Anthem Of The Angels
by Copperpelt
Summary: Darkness is looming over the city and is once again threatening the very balance that exists. This will be the biggest fight Alice, Shun, and the Blood Rose Clan have ever been faced with. SEQUAL TO HEAVEN'S CALLING! Based off song by Breaking Benjamin.
1. Darkness Is In The Air

_Alice_

Spring was starting to become visible in the city. The cold and icy winter was passing by, and taking the good, and not so good memories with it. It had been nearly a month since Mason went completely insane and tried to kill me, and almost killed Shun. Speaking of the Fallen I shared a Bond with, he was still recovering from the damage caused from Mason.

Shun was strong enough now to walk around on his own, and even fly. But not for a long period of time though. Bertha and I had even forced him not to leave the tenement building until he was 100%. It was safe to say that Shun wasn't much in favor in our decision, but he didn't argue with us about it.

He knew all too well that we would win. While I was out and picking up some supplies for Bertha, a chill went up my spine. I had felt it one too many times. It meant something wasn't right. Before my Bondage with Shun, it would have gone right past me. But now that I could see and sense everything that angels could, I was able to pick up on these invisible and hidden things.

I looked around to find the source, but it wasn't anywhere on the ground. Expecting to see a Fallen flying above me, I looked up. I felt the breath leave my body at what I saw. It was a current of darkness flowing through the air just like water in a stream. I couldn't see where it was coming from, but I knew it was a long way away. And I couldn't see where it was going either thanks to the buildings.

It wasn't right though. Last time I saw darkness like this, was when Mason was trying to kill me. Not only was he bathing in it, but he also commanded it to keep me from getting away. Feeling that I overstayed my welcome under the river of darkness, I started to jog back to the tenement building, being careful to hold on tightly to Bertha's supplies.

Last thing I wanted to do was drop them and have to spend more time hanging around with whatever was in the sky. I could have never been happier when I slammed the door to the tenement building shut behind me. I hurried into the newly remolded kitchen and put down Bertha's supplies on the table. She was sitting at the table and sipping her coffee.

It was her day off after all. She looked at me and asked, "Is everything alright, child?" I felt calmer whenever Bertha spoke. It always felt like everything would be ok. Maybe that was one reason she was assigned to be a Caretaker. I sat down, feeling for the first time that my hands were shaking as if I had been dumped in ice.

I told her, "I saw something on my way back from the store." Her interest was sparked now, and she asked, "What did you see?" My mouth went dry at the thought of going into detail about what I found in the sky. "It was like a river of darkness. I don't know where it was coming from, or going to. All I knew was the I wanted to get the heck away from it." Bertha looked at me with wide eyes, and a shocked expression on her face.

"A river of darkness? Where did you exactly see this?" I clenched my hands together to try and reduce their shaking. It helped some. "In the sky about two blocks from here." She leaned forward and said, "The sky?" I nodded my head when Shun walked into the kitchen.

Bertha said, "Afternoon, Shun." He nodded his head to acknowledge her and said, "Afternoon." He walked over to where I was sitting at the table, and wrapped his arms around my shoulders and kissed me on my cheek. Shun had gotten much more protective of me since our close brush with death.

He looked at me and said, "Is everything ok? You look pale." All of the color in my face must have drained from when I saw that darkness, and it must not have come back yet. "Yeah. I'm fine. Just a little spooked is all." He leaned away from me and looked at me with his gold eyes. "What has you so spooked?" His voice carried concern.

Bertha saved me from explaining what I saw. "Alice saw what she's described as a river of darkness in the sky." Shun's eyes were wide. "A river of darkness?" I nodded my head and said, "Yeah. Well, not like an actually river. More like just a flowing current going from one place to another. And it was big."

Shun let go of my shoulders and sat down next to me at the table. He said, "This can't be good at all. Do you remember where you saw it at?" I nodded my head and told him, "About two blocks away from the building. Why?" He leaned back in his chair, and his shirt came up a little and revealed the scar left from when Mason attacked him. "Cause I'm thinking about sending Thatch or Adam there to check it out."

"What?" We all turned and saw Adam standing in the doorway with his arms crossed and an unpleased look on his face. "What did I just get volunteered to do?" Shun narrowed his eyes and said, "Odds are you heard loud and clear, or else you wouldn't be asking. But just in case you really didn't hear, you and Thatch are going to check out something Alice saw."

Adam rolled his eyes and said in a whining voice, "Why do I have to go?" Shun stood up from the table and said harshly, "Because I said so. I'd go myself, but I have to stay here until I've fully recovered. Understood?" Adam sighed and said, "Understood. I'll go find Thatch and come back down here to see what we're looking for." Shun nodded and I watched Adam leave the kitchen and start to yell Thatch's name.

Upstairs I heard him yell, "What do you want with me you drunk!" I heard something break upstairs and Adam was trying to tell Thatch what was going on. The upstairs quieted down, and the two Fallens walked into the kitchen.

Thatch's hair was a tangled mess that could only be caused by bed-head. _Guess Adam woke him up._ Thatch said in a sleepy and slurred tone, "What is that you need, Shun?" Shun said to him, "I need you and Adam to go and check out something that Alice saw a few blocks away. It might cause us some problems if something isn't done about it." Thatch scratched his head and asked, "What is that we're looking for?"

Shun cleared his throat and said flatly, "A river of darkness." Both of their eyes widened, and they looked at each other. Adam said, "Is this some kind of joke? Cause if it is, I ain't laughing."

Shun ran a hand through his hair and let out an exhausted sigh. He looked much older, and tired ever since the whole Mason ordeal. "I'm not joking, ok? You should know if you see it or not. Just go and check it out, then come back here and tell me what you find out about it. Can you two handle that?"

Thatch and Adam both nodded, and left the tenement building. Shun wobbled on his feet, and almost fell back. Bertha and I caught him, and helped steady him into one of the chairs at the table. Bertha said to him, "Maybe you should take it easy the rest of the day." Shun shook his head and stood up.

"I've been taking it easy for the past month!" I had known for a while that Shun not being able to do normal, everyday things, would eventually wear on his nerves. Looks like that last nerve just snapped. When Shun yelled though, I thought for a minute I saw his eyes flash red. Just like Mason's had.

They were their normal gold color though when I checked again. Was I just imagining it? Bertha got him to sit back down and said, "And you'll be resting another if you don't rest and relax. You took a hard hit from Mason, and it's going to take a while for you to bounce back from it."

Shun sighed and said, "I know. I lost my head for a minute. I'm just getting sick of being crammed in this building." A loud crash sounded from outside, and Adam and Thatch came tumbling in from outside.

_Shun_

Laying on the floor in the living room were Adam and Thatch. Both of them were cut up, and their blood was seeping onto the wood flooring. Alice took in a shocked breath and said, "Oh my god! What happened?" Bertha was already by their sides, and was looking them over.

Adam was lying on his back, and completely unconscious. He was the one Bertha was looking over at the moment. Thatch was holding himself up on his hands and knees, and trying to catch his breath. He coughed and said, "We found that thing you were talking about…..When we went up to it, it beat the crap out of us."

Adam finally came to and Bertha had sat him up when he said, "Yeah….It lashed at us with these things like whips of darkness." That would explain their gashes. Bertha said, "It's a good thing I sent Alice to get me some medical bandages. Somebody had them to me." Alice dig into the paper bag and handed her the boxes of gauze and bandages.

I watched as Bertha used half of the gauze to just stop their bleeding. When she finally got it to stop, she started to bandage them up and said, "There. That's good enough for now. You two, up to your rooms. I'll be up there in a little while to finish patching you up."

They nodded their heads and limped to their rooms. Bertha looked at Alice and said, "Do you mind helping me clean up the mess?" She was pointing down to the blood covered floor. Alice said, "Um. Sure. I'll help." Bertha threw her a pair of gloves and rags to mop up the blood.

"What happened down here!" Ebony was staring horrified at the pool of blood. I said hoarsely, "Thatch and Adam got a little bloodied up." Her mouth was partially opened as she looked at the crimson pool and said, "A little? It looks like they got attacked by a meat cleaver."

Alice mopped up the last of the blood and asked Bertha, "What do you want me to do with the rags?" Bertha pointed to the trashcan and said, "Throw them away. They're ruined now."

Alice nodded and hurried over to the trash and threw the rags and her gloves away. Bertha thanked her and our Caretaker ran upstairs with her bag of medical equipment to patch up my injured Clan mates.

_Alice_

Whatever that darkness in the sky was, it was only going to be trouble from here on out. It had easily taken out two strong Fallens and almost made them into thin sliced deli meat. Shun sat down and rubbed circles in the temples on the side of his head. I pulled up a chair next to him and placed my hand on his leg and asked, "You doing alright?"

He stopped rubbing his temples and said tiredly, "Yeah." He took in a deep breath, and let it out as a long, exhausted sigh. I said, "How about you turn in early?" He ran a hand through his hair, and with closed eyes, nodded his head. I walked with him upstairs to his room.

He sat down on the edge of his bed, and I sat next to him. I hated seeing him so tired and stressed out. He lowered his head and looked straight and asked, "What am I going to do, Alice?" I laid my head on his shoulder, and he wrapped and arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him.

I said, "I don't know. Hope for the best I suppose." He sighed again and asked me, "Don't you have to go back to Runo's?" I did, but at the moment I felt like Shun needed somebody by him. "Yeah. But I think I should stay here with you for a little while. To make sure you're ok."

He said back to me, "Thank you." I smiled and turned my head to face him, and he did the same to me. His lips then met mine, and when we parted I told him, "We'll figure this thing out soon enough. I know it."

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><p>yes yes yes. the shorly awaited 3rd and final book in the <em>Fallen Love Trilogy.<em> ^^ -claps and does happy dance- since i'm wrapping up my x-mas special, i decided to start work on this. XP oh i'm such a workaholic. i was being a nerd and listening to pokemon music while typing. XD lol. what am i gunna do with myself? XP story title is based off the song by Breaking Benjamin. and is and epic song. check out my profile for it and all of the other songs my stories have been based off of. also check out the story cover for this is you havent already done so. i also have a poll for those who havent checked. it's just random and asks which of my stories is your favs. read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	2. Surrounded In Mystery

_Shun_

Before I had finally fell asleep, Alice made sure that I was ok and left to go back to Runo's before the short-fused bluenette would have a fit. I had just dozed off in my bed, and was slowly slipping into a dream. Now that Mason was gone and could no longer invade my dreams, they were back to normal. That is, till this night. It seemed to start normal enough, but looks are deceiving. I was in a forest.

Perhaps the one of the outside of town where I had my fight with Tristan, but I wasn't sure. Trees and rocks surrounded me everywhere. Above me, the moon was full and illuminating the area I was standing. I looked up at it and admire its beauty. This was one thing I enjoyed about my dreams; I could see everything that was blocked by the barrier. The light started to grow dimmer and dimmer, and when I checked again in the sky, it was being blacked out.

Not by clouds or the barrier, but by a pitch black mist that was darker than night. The mist started to seep down to the ground, and I could no longer see the forest around me. I was completely encased in shadows. As I started to panic, I looked around frantically for a way out. I then heard a growling, and looked up. I could make out the shape of a tall rock, and I saw the source of the growling.

It had massive claws that looked like could rip steel in half with ease, huge black wings like a bat's, slumped shoulders and made it look twice as big, and what looked like the head of a wolf with long, sharp jagged teeth that were uneven. Spikes shot out of its back along its spine.

A long tail with spikes on the end whipped around. When it looked down at me, a slender forked tongue shot out of its mouth and cut through the air like a snake. Its eyes were blood red, and against the darkness they stood out even more.

They looked demonic, even more than Tristan's or Mason's had. Behind that creature, I saw the outline of a person, only when the wings unfolded that I saw it was an angel of sorts. In the darkness, I couldn't tell whether he was Fallen, Holy, or so forth. He opened his eyes, and they matched the creature perfectly. The unknown angel snapped his fingers once, and the creature stood up on its hind legs like a human.

It threw its head back and let out a cry, then looked right into my eyes. I saw nothing else but the urge to kill in its monstrous red orbs. The angel behind him said, "This is the gift and power darkness can give you. Fear it. Always fear it." He snapped his fingers once more, and the creature lunged for me.

Right before he ripped my throat out, my body jolted awake and shot straight up in my bed. I could hear my own heartbeat, my hands were shaking frantically, and my breathing was ragged. It took me a minute to realize that I was no longer in my dream. That it was only that.

A dream. _But it was so real._ I was starting to calm down, but was still shaking. Sweat was also pouring from my forehead. An image of that creature flashed in my mind, and I shook my head to try and get rid of it. It went away as quickly as it showed up. It was safe to say, I wasn't going back to sleep that night.

_Alice_

Sometime last night, I had this strange feeling that something was wrong with Shun. It had actually brought me out of my sleep, and once the feeling went away, I couldn't get back to sleep. Easily that is. I finally did drift off, but in the morning I felt like I hadn't gotten a decent sleep. I was down in the café working my shift for the morning when Dan, Julie, and Murucho walked in. Runo smiled and said to them, "Hey, guys."

They waved back and took a seat in their usual booth. I walked over to them and said, "Morning." Murucho said back to me, "Good morning, Alice. Did you sleep well?" I smiled and shook my head. "Not as good as I wanted to." Runo yelled to me, "Alice! Customer three's order is ready! Can you take it to him?" I nodded my head and said to the others, "I'll be right back."

I picked the plate up from the order window and dropped it off at the designated table. The man thanked me and I went on my way back to the others. Runo joined me as I walked to their booth. The bell chimed above the door, and I turned to see who walked in. It was Paul. The new leader of the Black Iris Clan. In my opinion, he always seemed to have carried himself like a leader. Just like Shun had.

_Before Mason put him down._ It hurt me on the inside to think that Shun had gone from somebody like Paul, to what he was now. He wouldn't be like that forever though, right? It was Shun. He always fought his way out of tough spots. Paul saw me and nodded his head in acknowledgement. Even though the Clans were no longer fighting one another, they still weren't fond of each other.

That made me and so many others feel like another war would break out. And with all of the casualties of the last one, the two Clans wouldn't be able to handle another big fight. He cleared his throat and said, "Waitress, I'm ready to order." Runo was about to go over there, but I stopped her and said, "I've got this one." She nodded and went back to talking with Dan.

I knew Paul meant for me to go over there anyway. I pretended to get ready to take his order. With my little order notepad up, I said, "Hello, Paul. How have you been?" He looked back over at the others and then back at me. "Good. I heard about what happened with Shun and his second in command. Mason wasn't it? How has Shun been holding up?"

I should have known that something like the Blood Rose Clan's second in command going insane would have spread like wildfire in the Fallen angel community. I said, "He's been doing ok. Still recovering." I was starting to wonder if I should have been telling Paul about Shun's current condition. Being that the Clans still didn't always see eye to eye.

He said, "That's good. He needs to stay strong for his Clan." I nodded my head in agreement. I couldn't shake the feeling that Paul didn't just come here to the café for a cup of coffee. I said, "Why are you really here?" He looked up at me and said, "There's something big coming. I've felt it, and I'm sure Shun and his Clan have too. Keep your guard up. Whatever's coming this way, both Clans are going to have to stand up to it."

I felt my hands starting to shake a little, but fought through my nervousness and said, "Have you seen it? The darkness in the sky?" Paul looked around and said, "I haven't seen it, but I've heard a few Fallens talking about something in the sky. Maybe that's what it was." I shrugged, and he then stood up from his table. "Thank you for your time, Alice. Give Shun my best wishes in his recovery."

I nodded my head and walked back over to the others. Runo asked, "Did that guy not order anything?" I shook my head. Runo rolled her eyes and said, "Well that was rude." I sighed. She didn't know what he was telling me. And she couldn't know. My shift flew by after that, and I hung up my apron and said to Runo and the others, "I'm going to see Shun. I'll be back later."

They waved to me, and I saw Runo was still apprehensive about Shun, even though she said she would stay out of my business with him. I looked up in the sky, The river of darkness was gone. All that I could see was the barrier that protected the Realm.

I walked in the tenement building and set my things down by the door. As usual, I stopped by the kitchen first. Adam and Thatch were sitting down at the table; bandaged up still. It was good to see that they were up and about. Ebony was sitting across from them and typing on Adam's laptop. Bertha was leaning against the kitchen counter and looking in a cookbook.

She glanced up at me over her reading glasses and smiled. "You're here early today." The others were waving to me, and I waved back. I said to Bertha, "Yeah. I decided to be lazy and took a taxi instead of walking." I looked around the room quickly and asked, "Is Shun still sleeping?"

Bertha turned the page in her cookbook and said, "He woke up a few hours ago. He's in the shower right now though." I nodded my head and sat down with the others at the table. Shun then walked into the kitchen, hair still wet and his clean clothes were slightly sticking to him. He didn't look well. Not at all. When he saw me he smiled and said, "I wasn't expecting you to be here this early."

I stood up from the table and walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his neck. I whispered to him, "Are you feeling well?" He placed his forehead on mine and said, "Yeah. Restless night. That should explain enough." It did. He had issues with dreams since Mason, but none that he had this far had made him look this crappy.

There was a knock at the door, and Bertha put down her cookbook and said, "Ill see who it is." I watched as she left the kitchen, my arms still wrapped around Shun. She soon returned and said, "Alice, you have a visitor." I raised an eyebrow? Who would want to see me? Right behind Bertha, Damien walked in. "Damien!" Shun let go of me so I could go and talk with Damien.

I walked up to him and said, "It's so good to see you again." Damien had actually saved my life when Mason was about to kill me. He had gotten injured, but nowhere near the extent of Shun. Damien, who was a Half-breed, went to the Higher Powers to redeem his Messenger angel status. The only way he could redeem himself, was if he saved me. So basically he was assigned as my Guardian angel as a test. I asked him, "How have you been? Did the Higher Powers forgive you?"

Damien smiled proudly and unfolded his wings. They were almost snow white, but when they hit the light they had a faint tint of blue to them. He said, "A hundred percent Guardian angel." I said to him, "That's great! So, are you like still my Guardian, or are you somebody else's?" If I ever had the choice of a Guardian angel, it would either be Shun or Damien. He said, "Well, I'm not really assigned to anyone as of now. Whenever I'm needed I'll get assigned for as long as I need to be."

I nodded my head and asked, "So I take it I'm not in danger anymore?" If he wasn't still assigned to me, then I was safe. Right? Damien tapped his foot and said, "Not exactly. You're still assigned to me, so you're still my responsibility. I should have reworded my statement earlier. My bad."

Did that mean I still wasn't safe? He then smiled and said proudly, "But I can see something that you can't." I raised an eyebrow at him. I thought I could see everything an angel could. I asked, "What would that be?" He said to me, "I can see people or things that would threaten the person I'm assigned to." He then looked over at Shun, and fixed his eyes on him.

Shun looked back at him, and returned his stare. I jumped between the two of them and said, "Ok, guys. I know you two aren't the best of friends, but that doesn't mean you have to get into a fight." They both backed down. Shun never really did like Damien, but he was grateful to him for saving my life. That was the only thing that was probably keeping him from attacking Damien.

But Damien never had any issues with Shun before. Why did he now all of a sudden? Damien said to me, "Can I talk to you outside?" I looked at Shun. He shrugged his shoulders, and I turned to Damien and said, "Sure." I followed him out to the front of the tenement building and said, "What do you wanna talk about?"

Damien's face was serious and he said, "He's not safe." I was taken aback, and looked at him with my brow raised. I laughed when I said, "What? Who isn't safe? Shun?" Damien still looked serious, and I saw he wasn't joking. I said, "You're not kidding." He shook his head and stuffed his hands into his jeans pockets.

Damien said, "I told you I can see people or things that may be a threat or danger to the person I'm assigned to. When I looked at him, it wasn't a pretty site." I suddenly felt defensive and said sternly, "Shun would never do anything to hurt me." Damien held his hands up in defense and said, "I'm sure he wouldn't, but my eyes saw him as a threat. Alice, I wouldn't lie about something this serious. You need to watch out."

I was right up in his face when I said, "What exactly did you see that makes him a threat to me? Shun cares about me. He'd never lay a finger on me if it meant causing me harm." I hadn't even noticed that tears were starting to pool in my eyes. Why was I getting so worked up over this. Damien looked at me with a still serious look. "I saw him surround by darkness. All around him. I'm not sure about in his soul. I haven't gotten experienced enough to see that deep into somebody. I'm getting off topic."

I didn't believe him. No. I didn't _want _to believe it. I said to him in a soft voice, "He's been under a lot of stress as of lately. What you saw might not mean anything." Damien sighed and said, "You can believe and say what you want Alice, but I know what I saw. All I can tell you is watch yourself. It was nice seeing you again."

He turned around and unfolded his wings and took off into the sky. I stood there a few minutes, and looking up until I could no longer see him. I didn't care if people wondered why I was looking up. I finally snapped out of it and went back inside.

Bertha asked, "Where'd Damien go?" I told her, "He had to leave to go somewhere else." I looked over at Shun. He was leaning against the cabinets and drinking a glass of ice water. _He can't be a threat to me. He just can't._

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><p>i'm sorry for being late on a weekend. i went shopping halfway through with this chapter. the last chapter of <em>Dahng Through The Snow<em> might be up later tonight. read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	3. What's Become Of Us?

_Alice_

I hurried back to the café that afternoon. I didn't know why what Damien had told me about Shun was getting to me, but it was. Nonetheless, if Damien was planning this as some kind of joke or prank, it wasn't funny at all. He actually had me kind of weary of Shun.

With all the uncertainty going around for the past few months, you could never be too careful. With springtime in the air, the days were much longer than in the winter. It was nearing six, and still daylight. I didn't mind it at all. It meant that there weren't as many shadows for somebody crazy to hide in. Unlike when I went to the tenement building earlier, I walked instead of taking a taxi.

Wasn't sure why though. It might have had something to do with the taxicab driver being a horrible driver and almost wreaking the cab two times on the short drive to the building. With the drivers in this city, walking was much safer. Minus getting mugged or something like that. But just like the papers had said, crime was going down drastically and people could see that the city was getting safer. Boy, were they ever wrong. When I was nearing the café, I saw the lights were still on.

It was one of those days where Mr. Misaki saw that business was good and kept the store open a little bit longer to rake in some more profit. I walked through the door, thankful that I didn't have to dig around in my purse for my key. The others were still there as well. In the same exact spot that I had left them earlier when I got off of my shift.

I blinked in surprise and said, "I thought you guys would have left by now." Murucho shrugged and said, "Well, we would have been gone sooner, but the cops wouldn't let anyone out of their businesses or homes." I dropped my stuff down and stared at him and asked, "The cops? What were they doing around here?"

The street that the café rested on was one of the safest in the whole city pretty much. Crime down in this area was almost unheard of. Dan took up for Murucho and said, "There was some kind of shooting about an hour ago. Three people were injured in it, and the cops didn't want anyone out in the streets till they found the guy. They caught him a little before you got here." I couldn't believe that there had been a shooting. I guessed it was a good thing I was at the tenement building instead of the café, even though nobody in it was hurt.

I asked, "Are the people that were shot doing ok? None of them have died, have they?" Julie shook her head and said, "Not as far as we know. The news stations have only been covering tidbits of it every few minutes." I nodded my head, unable to think up anything else to say about the shooting. The whole thing could just as easily turned ugly, and somebody in the café could have gotten hurt.

There was no denying, everyone was pretty much lucky that they weren't injured. I bent over and got my phone out of my purse that I had set on the floor, and checked the time. It was a little past six now. Mr. Misaki walked in front the kitchen and said, "I'm going to close up the café at seven."

The last few customers in the store nodded their heads and finished up their orders. The music that was playing over the speaker system cut off, signaling that the café was going to be closing shortly. The last of the customers left the café and went on their way.

Dan stood up and said, "We better be getting out of here before Mr. Misaki kicks us out." Julie looked at him and said, "I think he'd just kick you out since you're the one dating his daughter." Dan rolled his eyes and placed a quick peck on Runo's cheek and caught up with the others as they exited the café. Runo picked up the plates they left behind at the table and into the kitchen to put the dirty dishes into the sink so they could be cleaned.

She then returned and untied her apron and hung it up on the hook next to mine. Runo started to make small talk when she asked, "So, how are things going with Shun?" I picked my purse up to take it up in my room, and also locked the latch to the door before I walked off. I said, "Pretty good. Why?"

I knew Runo wasn't the most comfortable when it came to Shun, so I was wondering what irrational saying about him she had this time. She said, "Just curious. You're barely here anymore, so I don't know much about what's going on with you." I hadn't really noticed my absence in the café when my shift ended. I said, "Guess you're right. I'll have to keep you up to date more often."

She nodded and I hurried up the stairs to my room. "Hey, sweetheart." I didn't jump at the familiar voice, but it was oddly lacking its usual enthusiasm. I turned around and found Damien sitting on my bed. I put a hand on my hip and asked him, "Now how did you get in here? We started locking the back door so you couldn't get in." He stood up from my bed, and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

His face still looked serious just like it had earlier in the day. He said, "Now that I'm a Guardian angel, I have the ability to pop up wherever I want to. It's handy if somebody is trapped somewhere and there isn't a door." He paced back and forth at the side of my bed. I asked him, "Why are you here?" I picked up the slight sound of anger towards him. It was mainly from him accusing Shun of being a threat to me.

The rest was from the idea that he could pop into my room while I was sleeping, reading, or getting dressed. I shuddered at the last thought. Damien then said, "I'm sorry if what I said back at the tenement building freaked you out, but I just want to tell you it was the truth."

His voice's volume got softer, and then I realized he was keeping his voice down because Runo was walking to her room. I saw her shadow stop at my door, and she knocked. "Alice? Can I come in?" I started to panic. She'd have a cow if she saw me with some guy in my room. I said quickly, "Uh. Y-yeah. Sure. Just give me a second."

I turned around and saw Damien was gone. I looked around the room and said, "Ok. You can come in now." Runo opened my door and walked into my room. She said, "My dad wants us back downstairs for something." I nodded my head and said, "I'll be down in a second." She nodded her head and left my room.

I closed the door and looked around. "Damien? Where'd you go?" He then suddenly materialized in front of me, and caused me to scream. Runo yelled up to me from downstairs, "Is everything ok up there, Alice?"

I yelled back down to her, "Yeah! Just a spider!" I turned back to Damien. He said, "I gotta get going." He then vanished again, and I went downstairs to see what Mr. Misaki wanted.

_Shun_

Most of the building had fallen silent with my Clan mates already gone to bed for the night. I was still awake, and sitting down in the kitchen by myself. I sighed and stood up from the table and left the kitchen. I was now walking up the stairs to my room to go to sleep, when a sharp pain shot through my head.

It brought me down to my knees, and I almost tumbled down the stairs but grabbed the handrail on the wall. My hand was holding the side of my head that the pain was on. Another shot of pain hit me in the same place, but worse than the last. Everything around me was a blur and spinning.

An image of the city then popped up, and I saw those creatures that were in my dream running wild down the streets. Destroying anything in their paths; buildings, car, people, and angels. The image then slipped away, leaving me on the staircase and the world around me still in a blur.

My head still felt the phantom pains coursing through it, and my stomach was threatening me that I would be sick._ What was that all about?_ I heard footsteps behind me, and then Bertha say, "Shun? What happened?" I forced myself up to my feet, even through my shaking legs.

I said, "Slipped and hit my head." She was already halfway up the stairs, and looking over me. Bertha said, "I don't see any wounds. Are you sure you fell?" I nodded my head and shrugged her away. "Yes, I'm sure. I'll be fine though."

She didn't seem to believe me, and she sighed and walked back down the stairs. She stopped at the base and said to me, "You can be so stubborn at times, Shun." I watched as she disappeared back to her room, and I made my way up to my own.

_Alice_

Mr. Misaki just wanted to ask our personal opinion on something when he called us downstairs. While Runo and I went back to our rooms, she was saying under her breath something about her dad. I rolled my eyes and turned into my room and closed the door. This time Damien wasn't inside. _Good._ I laid down on my bed and threw my covers over me. But I wasn't sleepy at all.

Something wasn't right. I just knew it, but I couldn't figure out what it was. Maybe it was left better that way. If I knew what it was, then I probably wouldn't be able to sleep for days. I looked at my phone that was on the nightstand next to my bed. It had lit up to tell me that my battery was now fully charged. I could see the screensaver now, and smiled. It was an old picture of me and Shun right after we had defeated Tristan.

He looked so much different then than he did now. So much younger. My smile of memories turned into one of longing. I wanted nothing more than to see Shun back to his old self. Not how he was now. I picked up my phone and looked at the picture closer. We were at the park.

I was sitting down on a bench, and Shun was behind me and had his arms wrapped around me and his head was next to mine. It was a really good picture of us. I felt a pang in my chest. Those days seemed so long ago, when they really weren't. I didn't realize that I was texting him, despite the time at night it was.

He was probably already asleep, but that thought didn't go across my mind. _Hey, you still up?_ I wasn't expecting him to answer back. He would probably look at the phone and go back to sleep. He might text me back saying he was asleep and say he'd talk to me the next day. I was surprised when he answered back.

_Yeah. I'm wide awake._ Have you ever figured out how somebody is feeling through text? Like whether they were happy, sad, tired, and so on? Well, I was doing that now. I could tell he wasn't himself. _Is something wrong?_ I sent the message. I had finally gotten used to my new phone, since I had broken my old one when I threw it across Shun's room out of anger towards Damien.

_Yeah. It's been kind of a rough evening after you left._ I heard down the hall that Runo was still up and moving around. I texted him back. _What happened?_ It didn't take him very long to answer back. _I'll tell you tomorrow._ I sighed, as if he could hear me. I punched the letters on the touch screen.

_Ok. See you tomorrow. Night._ He texted me back and said basically the same thing as I had. I rolled back over and put my phone back on its charger. Before I closed my eyes to go to sleep, I looked at the picture on my phone's screen one last time.

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><p>for once i dont hate sunday because i aint got school monday! wooo! well, i'm happy that i finished up my x-mas special now. ^^ ummm. i think that's it. o.o lol. well, read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~<p> 


	4. Plotting Unwanted Desire

_No One_

He was sitting down at his desk, the door across the room locked as he looked down upon the girl bowing on her knees before him. She said smoothly, and almost seductively, "What is it that you desire for me to do my Lord?" _My Lord._ He liked the ring of that. He stood up from his desk, the office chair moving backwards on its wheels. He could not see her eyes, for her head was bowed too far and her hair hid them.

He said calmly, as if he were speaking to any other customer. "I want you, to sever a tie." Her head lifted up to face him. Confusion was set in her eyes. "I'm sorry my Lord, but I do not fully understand. A tie?" He popped his knuckle and walked around his desk and knelt in front of the girl. He placed a hand on each of her shoulders. "Yes my loyal servant. A tie. A _Bond _if that helps to clarify.

It needs to be broken for my plans to go into full swing." She now looked as if she understood, and nodded her head to show it. "But where do I find the ones I need to sever?" The rogue Messenger stood up straight and reached into his desk and pulled out a piece of paper. He scribbled on it with a pen, and saw the girl on the floor trying to stretch her neck and see what he was writing.

He handed her the paper and said, "You should know the one when you see him. Sever their Bond. I don't care what you have to do, or how far you have to go. I want what they share, ripped apart so they will no longer get in my way." The girl examined the paper with carefulness, and said, "But how do you know that severing the Bond with work? How do you not know that he will come seeking vengeance?"

He smiled, and liked how clueless this girl was. _But she does a grand job._ "The girl, who is a pain in my side as it is, will be too devastated when she knows the Bond has been broken because of another woman. And when your seduction wears off, our target will be too dazed, confused, and angered to think and try to do anything. It's foolproof." She nodded her head and stood up and walked in front of him, and placed a long, slow kiss on his lips.

She whispered to him, "I will return only if I am successful, my Lord. And if I am not, then do away with me." He showed now sign of emotion as he watched her walk cat-like out of the room to do her job. He had to admit, even _he _was having difficulties fighting her seductive abilities, but his power was just beyond hers to where it would never fully effect him.

The Messenger angel walked in front of a mirror and looked at himself. In his eyes, he looked stunningly gorgeous. The lines in his face were defined, and his black as night eyes led his mind into its own abyss. He was a God in his own eyes. But in others, he was a monster.

While he had lost himself in his madness, others still saw what he was becoming. He had no idea though. He thought what he had been doing was helping him near his ultimate goal; to watch the world around him burn and those in it suffer.

The Messenger angel didn't always have these hostile feelings though. Only through years of being truly disgusted by the loathing, greed, and hatred of the people on Earth were. That was part of the reason he chose Earth over the Realm though; he thought he would like all of those things.

His eyes narrowed at the mirror, and wind suddenly blew in the room. His black hair whipped with the wind, and with a silent command of his mind, the mirror shattered before him. The wind died away, and he stared down at the broken glass.

_Alice_

I loved Sunday for one reason; no work. It was the only day, minus holidays, that the café was closed. You'd think that Mr. Misaki would see it as another way to make a profit with all of the people getting out of churches and such, but he always kept the store closed. I was arguing.

It meant one day out of the week that I didn't have to take orders and run back and forth from table to table and listen to guys hit on me. There was a knocking at the glass door of the café, and I saw Dan, Julie, and Murucho standing outside. I ran over to the door, and turned the latch to its unlocked position.

They walked in. Dan waved to me and said, "Thanks for getting the door for us, Alice." I smiled and locked the door back up to keep from anyone thinking we were open. Dan walked up to Runo and placed a light kiss on her forehead. That alone reminded me so much of Shun and I. Before everything went to hell in a handbag after Mason. I hated to admit it, but I was happy that Mason was gone.

At first after I had killed him, I felt guilty. But the more I thought about it, the more relieved I was to have him out of mine, and Shun's lives. Runo walked up to me, he heels snapping me from my thoughts. She asked, "Do you want to go with us to the mall, Alice? That is, if you don't have any plans with Shun."

I didn't have any. In fact, I hadn't had any with Shun for a month because he was in no condition to go anywhere yet. And today was no different. He wouldn't be angry if I didn't show up at the tenement building, but it wouldn't hurt to leave him a text or voicemail explaining why I didn't show up. I said to Runo, "Yeah. We haven't hung out in a while anyway."

She smiled. The others behind her looked surprised. They were sure I would have chosen time with Shun over them. "Let me just go and get my phone and then we can go." They nodded and watched me run upstairs. When I snatched my phone from its charger, I shot a quick text to Shun saying where I was going and that I might drop by later. I grabbed up my purse and stuck the phone into its little compartment, and ran back downstairs. I said, "Ok. Let's go."

Murucho had brought his limo with him. I was trying to figure out how I missed it when I opened the door for the others to let them in the café. Considered the whole door was clear _glass._ The mall was about ten minutes away from the café, and we drove right past the tenement building. I wasn't sure if the others knew that the tenement building was where Shun lived. They might have known since the day after Mason's death I saw Dan and the others walking by and ran out of it.

But they never did ask my why I was in there. Perhaps they didn't even know that I ran out from that particular building. The mall was packed, as per usual on a weekend. I asked, "What stores are we going to hit up first?" The others shrugged and Dan said, "I think we'll just scan." We walked inside, and were greeted with mall music and annoying people standing outside of stores and basically throwing brochures at us.

I walk looking walking by a store and looking at the mannequins in the window when I bumped into somebody. I didn't fall of my butt, but I was knocked back a little. I bowed quickly and said, "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!" The others were standing a little further up ahead, and watching me as I apologized to the person I ran into. I stood up straight and got a good look at her. She looked almost unreal.

Her skin wasn't too dark, but wasn't pale like mine. She had long jet black hair and dark gray eyes. And when I meant dark, I meant almost black. But the pupils in them were slitted. This girl was a Fallen. She was wearing a mini-skirt that was just shy above too short to wear, and a shirt that showed about five inches of skin around her bellybutton.

But all in all, she was stunningly beautiful. I noticed then that her bag was still on the floor. I said, "Oh! I'll get that for you." I bent over so she wouldn't have to. There was no point in scarring some little kid for life if she did. A piece of lingerie fell out, and she quickly scooped it up and stuffed it back in her shopping bag. She seemed uncomfortable. I would have been too if my bra feel out in public or something like that.

She said with narrowed eyes at me, "For my job." I raised an eyebrow at her. For her job? What was she? Some kind of model for Victoria's Secret? Or working the streets at night? She said harshly, "Thank you for your kindness. Next time, watch where you're walking please."

She then twitched off and out of the front door that we had come in from. Dan walked up behind me and said, "What the hell was that all about?" I shrugged my shoulders and said, "I have know clue, and I'm not sure I want to. Let's just keep on shopping."

_Shun_

My head still pulsed from last night when I woke up to the sound of my phone beeping. It was a text from Alice. _Hey. Going shopping with Dan and the others. I might stop by later._ I sighed and pressed the lock key for the touchscreen. I could smell the scent of food downstairs, and was happy that I hadn't slept through breakfast.

When I was faced with the stairs leading to the first floor, I had the sudden memory of what I had seen. Those dog-like creatures were destroying the city and killing people. I didn't know where they had come from, or who was controlling them, but I did know that I only wanted it to be a bad side-effect of something like a gas leak in the building. I ignored my memory, and walked down the steps one at a time.

When I got in the kitchen I asked, "What's for breakfast?" Ebony held up a plate and said excitedly, "Pancakes!" I smiled and said casually, "They smell good." I took my usual seat at the table, and Bertha placed a plate in front of me with two pancakes stacked on each other. She looked down at me and asked, "How did you sleep last night, Shun?" That wasn't an uncommon question for her lately.

She had asked me that every morning since the whole Mason thing. But this time she was talking about last night when she found me doubled over on the staircase. I told her, "Alright I suppose." She nodded her head, and absolutely did not believe me one bit. Breakfast went by slowly, and at noon we were all finally finishing up. I was rinsing the syrup off of my plate when Bertha yelled, "Shun! Hurry and come here!"

She had scared me, and I dropped the plate in the sink. I was running to where Bertha was calling me from, not caring that I may have chipped or broken the plate. The door to the building was wide open, and I saw my Clan mates gathered around outside. Along with a few people passing by. Bertha was shooing them away when I ran down the concrete steps.

I pushed through Adam and Ebony to see what was going on, and felt my breath escape me. Laying on the sidewalk, was a girl. And not just any girl, but a Fallen. She had long hair that was as black as mine, and a quiet skin tone. Her eyes tried to force themselves open, and I caught glimpses of their color; dark gray, and almost black. She was wearing a pair of short shorts, and a low-cut tank top.

She was beautiful. I felt myself being drawn to her, almost like a magnet to metal. I shook it off. What was I thinking? Alice was the only one for me. The girl said weakly, "Help. Please. Before he finds me again." Bertha snapped her fingers, and startled me as I realized I was losing myself in the girl again. Adam and Thatch eagerly helped her inside, and Bertha scooped up a bag that was laying near where the girl was.

She said, "I guess this belongs to her." Ebony skipped inside behind Bertha, and I soon followed. Adam and Thatch had placed her gently on the couch. She looked like a statue display at a museum the way she laid so elegantly on the cushions. I looked down on her from behind the couch. A spectator in awe just like everyone else. Her eyes opened, and she looked at all of us and smiled a smile that would make Hollywood celebrities envy her.

She said, "Where? Where am I?" Bertha said in her normal voice, "That's not important at the moment. What happened to you though is." The girl placed her arm on her forehead and said with tears forming in her eyes, "It was so awful. He threatened to kill me. He chased me down after I left our apartment. I was running for days when I finally collapsed in front of this building."

I suddenly felt anger boil up in me. _Who would dare hurt her? _My thoughts growled things like that. Things that didn't seem to really come from me. Bertha looked down at her and said, "You're safe now. What is you name?" She moved a stray lock of hair away from her eyes and said, "Sky. Sky Williams."

Bertha walked off into the kitchen and returned with a glass of water. She said, "Well, Sky. I guarantee that you are completely safe here in this building. You are welcome to stay here however long you wish." Sky took the glass from our Caretaker. Even her simple movements were delicate.

She took a sip of the water and then placed it down on the floor. "I already feel safe here. And somehow I know this one right here will make sure that I really am." She brought up a slender, soft hand to my cheek when Alice walked in.

_Alice_

I didn't know what to think when I opened the door to the tenement building. The girl who I had bumped into at the mall, was laying on the couch in a completely different outfit, and had a hand placed on Shun's face. I let my purse drop off of my shoulder and I caught it in my hand.

I said, "What's going on in here?" I was trying not to sound like I was ready to take the head off the first person who spoke, but I couldn't contain all of the anger I was forming inside. Shun pulled away from the girl's touch, and turned away. I could see as plain as daylight that he was blushing. Bertha saved the others the pleasantries of explaining, and said, "This is Sky. She was running from somebody that was threatening to harm her, and collapsed in front of the building from exhaustion."

I looked at her. I had just seen her a few hours ago, and she looked fully rested and not exhausted to me. My attention darted from the obviously faking girl, to Shun. Who was still looking highly embarrassed that he was caught with her hand on his face. I said calmly as I could, "Shun, can I see you in the other room."

I used my eyes to point to the room I was talking about. He said, "Uh, sure." I walked past him, and snatched his wrist and pulled him into the room, then slammed the door shut behind me. I looked at him with narrowed eyes, and my arms crossed over my chest. "What was that back there?" The poison in my voice even surprised me. Shun said, "Hey, she put _her_ hands on _me_."

I rolled my eyes and said, "Yeah. I saw that. Why did you let her though?" Shun ran a hand through his hair and said, "She just suddenly did that the very second you walked in the building! I didn't have time to react or say anything to her. Why are you so worked up over this?"

I tried to keep from exploding why I had every right to be worked up over this. I said, "She. Had. Her. Hands. On. You." Shun sighed and looked me right in my eyes and said, "Alice, you of all people should know that you're the only one I want to be with." I felt a blush on my face, and then I felt stupid for getting so overly jealous. I said, "I know. I'm sorry I lost my head."

He smiled and got closer to me and put his lips on mine. I felt the passion that Shun had for me in the kiss, and I returned it. He said to me, "Please do lose your head like that again." I smiled and said, "I won't, but I have to tell you something about this 'Sky' chick."

I put air quotes around her name. If that was really it. Shun raised a brow and said, "And what would that be?" I told him, "When I was at the mall I ran into her. Like literally, ran into her. She didn't look exhausted and like she had been running for days to get away from some abusive guy. In fact, she looked like she was ready to go and work the streets."

Shun looked at me with a quizzical look and said, "Well, when we found her she looked pretty much worn out. Maybe you ran into somebody that looked like her." I shook my head. "No. I saw _her_. How many jet black, dark gray eyed Fallens do you think are in this city?"

Shun looked around and shrugged his shoulders. "You've got a point there. Well, let's get back to the others before ideas start to go through their heads." I nodded my head and we walked back into the room with the faking girl. The minute Shun saw her again, his eyes were fixed on her and nothing else.

* * *

><p>ah. long chapters. i wrote this last night cause i was bored out of my little mind. XP lol. normally i would hate mondays, but not this monday. ^^ lol. yay. well, read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~<p> 


	5. Deception

_Alice_

After an entire day of Shun gawking over Sky, I wasn't about to leave him there in that tenement building alone with her. I had called up Runo and said I was staying the night over there, but didn't give her my true intentions. I could just hear her going off about how she told me so and all of that other stuff. I was sitting back on Shun's bed, and reading some celebrity gossip magazine that had been stuck in the tenement building's mailbox. Shun had just stepped out of the bathroom from his shower with his usual sleep attire on.

I told him, "You aren't about to get in this bed with that dripping wet hair." He rolled his eyes and went back into the bathroom. I saw him towel drying his hair, and he then came back into the room. "Better?" I shrugged and said, "I suppose so. At least you don't look like you got done swimming." He climbed into the bed next to me and looked over my shoulder to see what I was reading.

"You mentioned something about a bad dream you had the other night. You were going to tell me today, but you seemed a little preoccupied with other things." And by other things, I meant Sky of course. Shun thought for a minute and then said, "Oh yeah. I remember that now. It wasn't really much of a dream. More like a vision I guess you could say." I closed the magazine and tossed it on the floor.

"A vision? Of what?" He plugged his phone into its charger and said, "Let me just start from the beginning. A few nights ago I had this dream and saw this really weird creature. And somebody behind it said this was the what power darkness had and that I should fear it." I couldn't believe he hadn't told me about that.

He continued. "Last night I was walking up the stairs and this pain shot through my head. Twice at that. The second time, I saw this vision of those creatures running through the city and destroying everything." I thought for a minute, trying to decipher what Shun had seen in both dreams. I said, "Do you think those dreams have anything to do with that darkness I saw in the sky?"

Shun said flatly, "I know it does. Somehow. Listen, let's quit fretting about this or else neither of us will get any sleep." I nodded my head. I slid down in the covers next to him and let him slide his arms around me and bring me closer to him.

_Shun_

I woke up when I was nearly pushed out of my bed. I sat up quickly to see what was going on, and saw Alice scrambling around for her things. "Whoa. Whoa. Where's the fire?" She pointed to the digital clock on my dresser across the room. I narrowed my eyes at it and saw the time.

"So what? It's 8:30." She rolled her eyes and said, "I'm going to be late for my shift at the café! Oh, where did I put my phone?" I looked at the nightstand and saw it next to mine. "Alice…Alice…Alice!" She turned around to face me and saw me holding her phone up. I said, "It's right here."

Her face turned pink with embarrassment. I handed her the phone and she stuck it in her jeans pocket. "Thanks, Shun. Oh crap. Runo's going to kill me if I'm late! Bye!" I watched her rush out of my room, then heard her tell the others bye before the door to the building was opened and closed. I blinked my eyes in surprise. This certainly wasn't how I pictured being woken up that morning.

Already being wide awake, I went ahead downstairs. The only ones in the kitchen were Bertha, Adam, and Thatch. No Ebony or Sky. I was relieved not to have Sky in there though. For some reason I couldn't control myself around her. I didn't want to have anything to do with her, but whenever I saw her that was all I could focus on. I sat down at the table next to Thatch and Adam, and leaned over and whispered, "Hey. Can I ask you two something about Sky?" They looked at each other.

Their bandages had finally been taken off, and now all that remained were little pink scars that would soon vanish themselves. Adam said, "Sure. What is it?" I tried to keep my voice to where Bertha couldn't hear me. "Whenever you two are around her, do you feel like. Drawn to her?"

They raised their eyebrows. Thatch then said, "When we first saw her I kind of felt like that, but after she put her hand on your face it was like something was cut off." Adam nodded his head and said, "I was the same way. And yeah. What was up with her putting her hand on you?" I shook my head. "I'd rather not get into that again. It already got me in enough trouble with Alice yesterday."

So, two of my Clan mates had felt like I had when I saw her. But why didn't they still feel drawn to her like I did? I was startled when Sky dashed into the kitchen. She was wearing a different pair of shorts and a baggy t-shirt. She said, "Morning, everyone!" I suddenly wished Alice hadn't left that morning. Everyone told her morning, but when I looked around, I was the only one really focusing on her.

Ebony then walked into the kitchen, and shot Sky a look that was nothing short of disgusted. I leaned back and whispered to her, "What's got you all riled up." Ebony glared at Sky once more before looking back down at me. "I didn't like that way Adam was looking at her yesterday."

_I didn't know that she liked Adam._ She walked over to her usual seat next to Adam. Now that I thought about it, those two barely were ever apart from each other. I always thought it was rivalry. Sky walked behind me and ran a fingernail lightly over the nape of my neck without the others seeing. I shuddered from her touch, but couldn't help to not ignore the electricity that flowed from it.

Adam was looking at me and asked, "You ok? You ain't getting sick again, are you? Cause I don't want catching whatever you might be getting." I rolled my eyes. I had to remember that he hadn't seen Sky touch me a minute ago. "No. I'm not getting sick. It was probably just a draft or something. This building is full of them."

I snuck a look back at Sky, who was grinning at me. I had to force myself to turn back around. What was her motive? She had to have one, right? She couldn't be doing all of this unconsciously. It had to be on purpose. I stood up from the table and said, "I'm going to be on the roof getting some air if anyone needs me."

I hurried up the stairs and into the storage room that held the ladder and hatch to the roof. I climbed up and felt relieved to have fresh air filling my lungs. I closed the hatch behind me. Bertha hated whenever I left it open. She said it cause a horrible draft that we couldn't ever get rid of. I looked out over the city. I was itching with anticipation for the day that I was finally strong enough to fly over the city again.

I hated being grounded and stuck in a building all the time. My head then pulsed as an all too familiar pain shot through it. I went back down to my knees, holding my head with both of my hands. My mind then received an image of Alice, Dan, Runo, Julie, and Murucho being cornered by several of those creatures. Something was different about Alice though. I couldn't tell what it was though.

The image vanished, leaving me out of breath like the last. It felt like they were getting worse and worse. _I liked it better when they were just dreams._ I made my way back up to my feet, and got as far away from the edge of the roof as I could. I didn't want to take the chance of losing my balance and falling off. I stumbled my way over to the little electrical room that was on the roof.

I leaned against the brick wall that protected the contents inside from the weather. My palms touched the brick, and felt that it was warm from facing the sun. I waited for my vision to come back into focus. It was taking much longer than the last time. All of a sudden, somebody was standing in front of me, and very close too. I could only make out an outline; no facial features. "Sky?"

As my vision started to return, I could make out her face. She was grinning at me. My heart started to race. I needed to get away from her. Now. She said in a sweet and innocent voice, "What's wrong? You don't look well."

I shook my head and tried to walked around her, but she wouldn't let me leave the wall. I said, "I'm fine. Please move." I felt her hand touch mine and she leaned closer to my face and said smoothly, "Can't do that."

I felt like my heart was about to explode from adrenaline, and my legs were having trouble holding me up with her being that close to me. I looked into her dark gray eyes, and thought I saw them flash yellow. I felt like I had been pulled from my own body, and was watching somebody that looked like me. _Kiss her. Kiss her._ With no control over my actions, my lips touched hers.

_Alice_

I ran into the café just before my shift started. I punched in my little time card and bent over panting and trying to catch my breath. Runo was looking at me and said, "Alice, you made it just in time." Feeling my body relaxing from my frantic run, I stood up and grabbed my apron from its hook.

I said to Runo, "I'm sorry for being late. I slept in late." She dug around in a drawer and pulled out a pen, and handed one to me. "You don't say. I was starting to think I'd have to cover your shift." I took several orders, and skrewed them up. I was too focused on Shun being in the same building as Sky.

I trusted Shun with all of my heart, but Sky was another story. Something wasn't right about that girl. Anyone who was just seen at a mall and looked fine, then claimed to be running for days, wasn't up to any good. Another customer was complaining about a mixed up order. Runo called my name and I sighed as I walked over to her. "Yes?" She looked at me with concern in her eyes.

"Alice, is everything alright? You never mess up orders." I tried to put on a reassuring smile when I said, "Yeah. Everything is fine. I'm just still a little off from being in such a rush this morning." Runo wasn't sure if I was telling the truth or not, but she sighed and went off to another table. I needed to get my head straight. Shun would never go behind me. Especially not with somebody like Sky.

He was well above stooping that low. While taking another order, I got this strange feeling. I was feeling emotions; want, guilt, and others. They weren't mine though. They were from Shun. His emotions were seeping through to me through our Bond. I shook my head.

It was all in my head. Nothing was going on. Nothing should be going on. _He's not doing anything. Not doing anything._ I blocked the two of them out for the rest of the day, and didn't mess up another order. The last customer walked out of the door, and Mr. Misaki locked it behind him.

I was hanging up my apron on its little hook. I hadn't thought about whether I wanted to go back to the tenement building. No. I had to. I had to make sure Sky wasn't trying to do anything to Shun. Or vice versa. I needed to be there.

I told Runo, "I'm going back to Shun's tonight. Just cover my shift tomorrow if I don't show up." She nodded and I went outside and started to walk back to the tenement building. With Shun's emotions still gnawing at the back of my mind.

_Shun_

What had I done? After my lips left Sky's, it was like I rushed back into my senses. She was grinning up at me, her eyes low and made her look much older than she was. More feminine. I shook my head, trying to rattle my brain back to what it used to be, and I walked around her.

She had left the hatch open, and I dropped down it and hurried to my room. I locked the door behind me so she couldn't get in and control me again. On the other side of my door, I heard her nails tap along it as she walked by. Kissing her was bad enough, but I could have sworn she had manipulated my Bond with Alice and directed my emotions to her.

If she had done that, then Alice felt everything I was feeling. I felt sick to my stomach. I leaned my back against the wall, and slid down to the floor. Thinking about how Alice reacted to my emotions worried me almost as much as that vision I had. What was different about her?

When I saw her, it was like I was looking at somebody else. Like I had no connections to her. It then hit me. We didn't share a Bond in that vision. Why had it broken? Was I killed? Had the life debt been repaid? I didn't notice a tear rolling down my cheek. I didn't want our Bond to be broken.

That Bond was what allowed her to see the real me. Not what I look like to everyone else. It was plain for me to see now, that this was all tied in with Sky. It had to be. I couldn't be around her if I wanted to keep Alice. My mind flashed an image of when her eyes flashed a yellow, goldish color.

When that happened, it was like she had control over me. She wasn't a normal Fallen. That was for sure. I let out a shaky breath as I tried to calm myself. There was a knock at my door, and the sound startled me and caused me to jump.

Thinking it might have been Sky, I asked, "Who's there?" A familiar voice put my mind to ease. "It's Alice." I stood up, and wiped the tears from my face and hoped she wouldn't see how mixed up I was. I unlocked the latch, and opened the door. She was standing there with her usual expression. I smiled and said honestly, "It's good to see you."

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><p>you know you have a problem when you're laying in bed and trying to sleep and your half awake and half asleep and all of your half dreams are boing narrated like a story. o.o lol. XD well, read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~<p> 


	6. Left For Betrayal

_Alice_

Shun's voice carried a current of guilt that was quite obvious to me and anyone else who would have heard it. I stepped into his room and set my things down in their usual place, but didn't turn around. I started to think about back in the café when I felt his emotions. I had never known our Bond to be able to link emotions like that. He said to me, "Is everything alright?"

Their was a pleading in his voice. He had done something, and I could hear in his voice that it was eating him alive. I turned around to face him and said, "Yeah. Just another day. What about you?" He looked at me with his golden eyes and said, "Oh, nothing much. It's been…Quiet today." I nodded my head, but didn't want to give away my poker face and let him see I didn't believe him.

I said, "How about we go downstairs with the others?" His eyes widened as if I had just brought up an insane suggestion. "Uh, sure." He looked like he didn't want to go down there, but that only made me want to go down there more. We left his room and went into the kitchen where the others were gathered around as usual.

Including Sky. I noticed Ebony was giving Sky a death glare without her noticing. It was safe to say, Sky wasn't becoming very popular around the tenement building. The phone in my pocket rang, and I got it out to see who was calling. Runo. I held up my index finger and said, "One minute."

I stepped into the other room and took her call. "What do you need, Runo?" Something dropped in the background. "You're going to have to come back to the café. Turns out my parents decided to take a last second vacation for their anniversary and we got stuck running the café." I couldn't leave the tenement building. Not without the fear of Shun being alone with Sky.

"Can't I come back tomorrow?" I was hoping that I could. Runo sighed into the phone and said, "I wish that could happen, but my dad said he wants us both back here tonight and to stay here till they get back." I could hear in her voice this wasn't something she wanted to do either.

I sighed and said, "How long will they be gone?" Worry started to build up in me. Runo said, "The entire week. And they want us watching the café 24/7 while they're gone. I know this is inconvenient, Alice, but we have to. I would let you off the hook, but I can't run the café by myself."

I leaned against the wall and thought for a moment. A full week that I couldn't keep a watchful eye on Shun and Sky. My worry started to fuel my fears of something going on between them. I said, "You're parents are really crappy timers, Runo." She sighed. "I know. I know. But it's just a week. I think we can survive." _I hope you're right._

_Shun_

Alice had gone into another room to take a call, leaving me in the kitchen with Sky. She kept sneaking glances at me, and I kept thinking about our kiss. The memory made my skin crawl and my stomach turn. And having Alice in the same building wasn't helping my anxiety.

Alice returned and looked just as disheveled as I felt. I asked, "What was that about?" She looked at me, but I could feel she was directing her words at Sky. "Runo's parents are going out of town for the week. Me and her have to stay at the café 24/7 and watch it till they get back. I have to go back tonight."

I wanted to scream, _"No! You can't leave me here with this harpy!"_ I felt like I was about to be sick right there in the kitchen. I saw Sky had a sly grin on her face, and her expression gave me that deer in the headlights feeling. Bertha said calmly, "That's a shame. We'll miss you for the week."

Alice took a deep breath and said, "I'll miss you all too. I'm so used to being here all the time. I'm not sure how I'll live." She was faking a laugh as she tried to act normal. Her smile started to fade and she said, "Well, I better go upstairs and get my stuff that I brought all this way." Alice walked up the stairs, and soon returned with her bag of over night clothes.

I walked up to her and whispered in her ear, "Do you really have to go?" I hoped she could hear the plea in my voice. I didn't trust myself with Sky. Not after what happened on the roof. Alice shook her head and said, "I seriously wish I didn't have to." Bertha broke into our conversation. "How about Ebony walks you back to the café so you'll have some company?"

Alice waved her hand dismally and said, "No, but thank you for the offer. I've got to get going." I nodded my head and said to her, "Hurry back. Please." She nodded and walked out of the building to go back to the café with Runo. I only hoped I didn't have a repeat of the roof incident…What exactly did happened on the roof? I suddenly found myself unable to remember it. _What happened!_

I started to panic, and turned around to see Sky's eyes glowing yellow and fixed on me. I didn't feel safe around her, but where the others could see us was the safest place I could be. At least I would have eye witnesses to if she jumped me. But what would happen when everyone turned in for the night?

I heard Bertha sigh and say, "Well would you look at that. I thought we had a full thing of milk. Looks like I'll have to hurry to the store or wait till tomorrow." I saw an opening for me. I said quickly, "I can go get some for you." She looked at me and asked, "Do you think you're well enough to go?"

I nodded and said, "Yeah. I feel fine." _Not so much in my mind though._ She thought for a minute, and I hoped she could only see the desperation in my eyes. "Fine. Just hurry before they close." She handed me the money, and I couldn't have gotten out of that building any faster even if it were on fire.

_Shun_

As I walked down the sidewalk with a plastic bag in my hand, I kept fretting about going back to the building. I took my time walking, occasionally stopping to untie my shoe and then tie it back again. Just to have an excuse. Sky was tampering with my mind. She was making me do and think things that I would never thought or done. But I was finding it difficult to remember what she had done to me.

I stopped walking and clenched my fists. _This is one of her games!_ I felt my anger die down, and sadness replaced it. I was sure cause of her, my Bond with Alice would break. I wasn't sure how she'd do it unless Sky killed one of us. But according to my vision, Alice was still alive. So that would only leave Sky the option of killing me. Was that why she was getting so close to me?

I shook my head. Whether I liked it or not, I had to go back to the tenement building, or else Bertha would hunt me down for not returning with her milk. I was almost back to the building, when I heard the clicking of heels on the sidewalk. I turned around, but didn't see anyone behind me.

_You're losing it, Shun._ I turned back around, and walked right into Sky. Panic almost made me fall backwards, but instead I only dropped the plastic bag with the milk in it. She was looking down at the dropped bag and said, "Aw. I hope it didn't spill." I tightened my jaw. She was playing innocent.

I yelled at her, "Listen, I don't know what the hell you're doing to me, but stop! I don't want to have anything to do with you!" I made the mistake of looking into her eyes when I yelled at her. I felt paralyzed, unable to say anything or do anything.

Sky purred, "Are you mad cause you can't remember what happened on the roof? Aw. Don't feel bad about that. Soon, you won't even know anything happened up there. Just like you won't after this." My mind was too fried to make myself run or push her away, and I had allowed her to kiss me. A voice that was not mine was speaking. _Hold her. Kiss her._

I did as the voice said, and felt myself slipping away. Sky had her arms around my neck, and I felt her long fingernail glide up my neck. I then felt a warm liquid from where her nail ran up. The only thing my brain could register was; _blood. _But it didn't tell me to run or anything like that.

Sky had control of me at that moment. Her lips finally parted from mine, and I was left standing there and looking at her. Unable to command myself to do anything. She bent over and picked up the bag I dropped and said, "It doesn't look like it spilt." She motioned for me to follow her with her finger.

"Come on. Before it starts to wear off again." All I could think that I had to listen to her, that I couldn't do anything for myself. How deep in my head was she? When we walked in the tenement building, I could feel myself regaining control over my body. My mind still wasn't clear though, and I still felt under Sky's influence.

I didn't know what was scarier; knowing that she had power over me, or that I was letting her. I hadn't even noticed that the bag containing the milk was back in my hand, and that I was placing it on the table. Bertha thanked me, but I didn't say anything.

She asked, "Are you ok?" I nodded my head, still not speaking. I walked past Sky, and saw she was grinning at me again. Now that whatever power she had on me was wearing off, I remembered that I needed to get away from her.

I went up the stairs and into my room and locked the door behind me. I mindlessly laid down on my bed, trying to remember what the roof had to do with anything other than my vision I had, and trying to figure out what happened on the streets had me like this.

_Alice_

I had that strange feeling again. The one where I felt Shun's emotions. They were basically the same, but stronger; anger, confusion, _lust._ The strength that these had, actually woke me up from my sleep, and I could push them away like last time. Something wasn't right.

Not at all. I reached for my phone and texted Shun, hoping that he was still awake. _Is everything ok there?_ He didn't text me after twenty minutes, so I tried again. If he was asleep and ignored it once, the second time would wake him and he'd answer back. But he didn't.

Those raw emotions were still coursing through me. They weren't dying away. I didn't want to stay at the café for a full week if it meant getting these emotions from Shun. And if they kept getting stronger, I didn't know what I'd do. My intuition said Sky had something to do with this. It was always Sky. I sent Shun another text. Nothing. I finally gave up and figured he wasn't going to answer back.

_Fine. Be that way._ I wasn't exactly directing my anger at him, even though there was some being sent to him. It was all mostly to Sky though. I sighed. There wasn't anything I could do till Runo's parents got back. I couldn't leave without having to face some kind of consequences when I came back.

Although the Misaki's weren't my parents, they were still my employers. They gave me a home not just out of kindness, but also out of exchange for working there at the café. The emotions that hit me earlier were finally starting to simmer down, and all I was left with was a feeling of confusion and being lost that was coming from Shun. Feeling that they were going away, I attempted to go to sleep.

_Shun_

I woke up that morning with an immense headache. I didn't want to move, or hear any sounds. To try and block out the world, I pulled my covers over my head. What happened yesterday. It was like there was a huge gap in yesterday morning and evening. Like I had missed something.

It scared me. I wasn't sure what happened. Sky could have done something to me in those blank moments, and I didn't know. I pulled the covers off of my head and sat up. My body was sore as if I had the flu. I looked out the window. By the little light I could get from outside, I could tell that it was still early morning.

Something caught my eyes down on the sidewalk, and I looked down. Sky. She was waving up at me, then twitched her way down the sidewalk and out of my sight. When she had left, I felt like I could breathe again. I was tired, and run down.

I was sure that I couldn't have gotten out of my bed and walked down the stairs. It felt like all of my will had been drained since Sky had showed up. Why? What was she doing to me? I laid back down in my bed, feeling fatigue grip me. On a normal day, Alice would have shown up right about now and seen that I wasn't well and would get Bertha to check on me or she would check on me herself.

But this wasn't just another normal day. There was some psycho Fallen that was messing with my head, and Alice was trapped in the café for the week. I rolled over on my side and unlocked my phone. I had three messages from Alice.

All of them read the same thing; _Is everything ok?_ I looked at the times; they were all sent during the time that my mind drew a blank. I texted her back, knowing that it was probably too late to salvage the conversation. _I don't know._

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><p>i was randomly thinking of songs that would fit the characters in here. i have Kiba's figured out; Riot, and Animal I Have Become by Three Days Grace. and Monster by Skillet. still haven't figure Alice, Shun, Damien, or the others. o.o lol. i'm starting to think people don't like Sky. -.^ i wonder what could give me that idea. o.O lol. trust me, soon Sky's story will be explained in either the next chapter or the one after that. and i have many twists and turns in store soon. XP yup. there's always more around every corner. i added this story to my poll on my profile now, so it is now an option. even though people favored <em>Dashing Through The Snow<em> most. o.o i honestly wasnt very fond of writing that story. it wasnt easy for me to write. at all. 2nd favorite is _The End Of Our World._ ah. people love them some zombie drama. well, i've drabbled long enough. read, review, and other things. (P.S. if you meet somebody named Sky, don't jump them please. lol. XP) ~Copperpelt~


	7. Outta My Head

_Alice_

My phone scared me when it suddenly buzzed on the table I was sitting at. I picked it up and saw Shun had finally texted me back from last night. _I don't know._ He didn't know if everything was alright? I was about to text him back when Runo called my name. "Alice! I have another order ready!" I sighed.

Runo was in the back cooking all the food, and I took it to the people who ordered it. Her parents deciding to randomly take off for a vacation was a serious pain to me. There was no way that just me and Runo could run this place, and they had to know it. I picked up the plate and took it to a guy sitting in a booth near the door. The last of the lunch rush left, and me and Runo sat down at a table and breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'm going to kill my parents when they get back." _Me too._ We still had the dinner rush that would show up in a few hours, so we needed to enjoy what time we had to relax. The bell rang above the door, and Runo and I both sighed at the thought of another customer. I looked up, and was surprised to see Bertha walk in. I blinked in surprise and said, "Bertha? What are you doing here?"

She seat her purse down on a table and said, "I told the others back at the building that I wasn't cooking lunch today and that they had to fin for themselves. I just decided to stop by here to grab a bite." Runo was trying to figure out how I knew this lady. "Oh, Runo. This is Bertha. She's a good family friend of Shun's." My friend nodded her head and asked, "What would you like to eat?"

Bertha looked up at the menu and thought for a moment. "How about some soup to go?" Runo nodded and skipped off into the kitchen. I turned back to Bertha and sat down at the table with her. "How's Shun?" Bertha adjusted a ring on her finger and said, "He's been tired and acting a little out of it today. That's about it." I nodded my head. I could always trust Bertha to give me the truth.

Runo hurried back and handed Bertha her little Styrofoam container of soup. She smiled and thanked Runo. After she paid, she turned back to me and said, "I'll tell Shun I ran into you today." I nodded and watched her walk down the street and out of my sight. Runo said, "She seems nice." I smiled. "She really is." My mind went back to Shun's text. I looked down at it, not knowing exactly how to respond to it.

I turned to Runo and asked, "Can't we just close the café for like, and hour?" Runo leaned back in her chair and said, "I wish. Alice, I know you want to see Shun. Trust me, I'm in the same boat cause I want to see Dan. But it's only a week. It's not like things will be any different when my parents come back." I sighed, feeling frustrated. The dinner rush hit us early, and Runo and I found ourselves running from table to table and listening to impatient customers.

I was almost relieved that her parents covered this shift. Right about this time I would usually be at the tenement building and talking with Shun and his Clan mates. Not tonight though. Or tomorrow night. And so on. Not until they got back. All of these days, were days that Sky could try and do something to Shun. Just the thought made me burn with anger.

I had just brought another person their food, and took a seat at the counter behind the register. I kept my gaze down and looked at my nails and let my mind daydream since reality was beginning to suck. I heard the clicking of heels walk up to the register, and a female voice said, "Can a I get a coffee? Black please." I nodded my head, not looking at the customer, and called back to Runo, "One coffee! Straight up!" She yelled back to me to let me know that she heard. I said flatly, "That will be 2.50 please."

I heard the customer look for her money. She said to me, "That's not a very good attitude to have towards your customer." I took the money and looked up. I felt my eyes widen, and my face burn. Sky was standing right there and smiling slyly at me. I slid off of my chair and stood up. Meeting her gaze straight on. She let go of the money, and I stuck it in the register without looking away from her.

My eyes were narrowed at her, but she just held a carefree look and sly grin. I looked away from her for a minute, and saw every guy in the café gawking over her. Just as Shun had. Runo walked up behind me and handed me the to-go cup of Sky's coffee. I had every right in my mind to splash it on her, but I sighed and handed it over. Sky threw her hair over her shoulder and said, "Thanks. See ya around."

When she turned around I saw she was wearing about six inch heels that were nothing but sticks, and the straps wrapped around her legs up to her knees. She wasn't wearing a mini skirt, but it was tight and I didn't see how anyone could walk in it.

I heard Runo behind me say, "Wasn't that that chick you bumped into at the mall?" I nodded my head, and trying my best to bite back my words and not run out of the café screaming. Runo said, "She needs to go back to her street corner already." I couldn't help but smile at Runo's comment.

But even with Runo wittiness, I still wanted to chase Sky down and tell her every word I could think of. The thought of her going back to the tenement building with that outfit on, sickened me. My thoughts were gone when another customer yelled out for service. I sighed. _This is going to be a long week._

_Shun_

I remained quiet most of the day. I didn't make much eye contact with anyone, or speak to them. No matter how hard I tried, I could remember what happened in the gaps in my memory. But I did know that I felt guilty about them. Whatever they were. Bertha decided to punish us today by not cooking lunch. Of course, Adam was going off about how he'd starve or shrivel up into nothing.

He was worse than Dan at times. I then started to think about my old friends. I hadn't seen then on God knows how long. But in my vision, I was watching them being cornered by some freaks of nature. I shuddered at the memory. Ebony sat next to me at the table in the kitchen, but I didn't look at her or say anything. She sighed and said, "God, Adam is driving me insane. Why did Bertha have to make us fin for ourselves?"

I shook my head, half listening and half in my own world. I could feel Ebony's eyes on me, and the concern that was flooding from them. "Shun?" I still didn't say anything. My Clan mates were probably just thinking that I was moping around cause Alice wasn't there.

Not that I couldn't remember certain parts of yesterday. Bertha walked back into the kitchen, holding a to-go thing of what was probably soup. I recognized it was from the Misaki's café. She placed it down on the counter and said, "I saw Alice today. She looked almost as lost in thought as you, Shun." I didn't have anything to say. Sky then popped her head into the kitchen and said, "I'm going for a coffee run. Anyone want anything?"

Ebony narrowed her eyes at her, and hissed, "No. We're all good." Sky shrugged her shoulders and left. Ebony said under her breath, "I'm not drinking anything that snake brings in this place." Adam was hovering over Bertha and begging for some of her soup. "Please! Please! Please! I'm starving! Come on, Bertha!"

Bertha was telling him now and shoving him away like a dog. Ebony was shaking her head at Adam, but I caught a slight blush on her face when she looked away from him. I dug into my pocket and pulled out my phone to check the time. It was only six, and not even getting dark yet. But I was so tired. I had been tired all day. Within the hour, Sky returned with a cup of coffee.

That I also realized was from the café. She had seen Alice, and obviously meant to go there on purpose. She killed the last of it and threw it away. She stayed in the kitchen and spoke with Bertha about pointless things. I felt the hairs on the nape of my neck prickle the longer she was in the same room as me. My mind screamed for me to get out of there. As far away as I could.

But why? What had she done that made me want to get away from her? Besides the threat that she could sever what me and Alice had. However she planned to do that. Sky stretched and said, "I think I'm gunna get a shower and turn in early." Nobody acknowledged her, but she didn't seem to care as she twitched out of the room. Even though she was gone, I still didn't feel safe.

I stood up from the table and said the first words I had all day. "I'm going to go on to bed." Everyone in the room looked at me and nodded. I was watchful when I walked up the stairs to my room. I glanced around every corner, making sure that I wasn't blindsided by Sky.

She was tied in with everything that was happening to me. I just couldn't remember how. I was almost to my room, and it seemed like she wouldn't show up anywhere. Wrong. Before I could react, my back was against the wall, and she was right in front of me.

Her body was pressed against mine, and she ran her hands up and down my back. My voiced seemed unable to work. It was like I was completely helpless. She cupped my cheek in her hand and looked me right in my eyes. As if examining me.

She said wickedly, "Almost there. This should do the trick." She smashed her lips onto mine. Without thinking, I wrapped my arms around her waist and brought her closer to me. I could feel her smile slyly through our kiss. The rest was a blank for me.

_Ebony_

Bertha was the last one out of the kitchen that night. I had stayed up to make sure everyone else was asleep. Before she left, she asked, "Are you going to stay up late?" I nodded. "Ok. Just turn out any lights you leave on, Ebony." I nodded again. When she walked towards her room, I peered around the corner and saw her door close. All of the doors were shut. Everyone was asleep. _Perfect._

I was about to do some digging to put some answers to my questions. I had stolen Adam's laptop while he was pestering Bertha for food. I blushed at the thought of how he looked when he was begging. I shook my head. _No! Focus!_ I opened the laptop and logged onto the video call. I tried to remember what I had seen Adam do that day he called Specks for info on the Angels of Omen.

I typed in the name in the search bar, and saw him pop up. A smile crossed my lips when I clicked on him and heard the ringing. The little square in the bottom corner showed me, while the large square showed a telephone ringing. Speck's face then popped up. "Ebony? This is unexpected. What ya need?" I got straight to my point. "What do you know about Sky Williams?" Specks raised an eyebrow at me, then pushed his glasses up.

"I'll see what I can dig up." I nodded and watched as his fingers typed away on the keyboard in front of him. I noticed in the back that there were mountains of pizza boxes and empty soda cans. How had I not noticed that last time? Maybe I was too busy focusing on Adam. _No! Stay on task, Ebony!_ Speck's face lit up and he said, "Found her! Sky Williams. Is this the one your looking for?"

A picture popped up and showed a beautiful blonde angel with purple eyes. I shook my head. "No. This looks nothing like Sky." This Sky looked way too innocent and sweet to be the one in the tenement building doing God knows whatever. Specks said, "How about this?" A picture popped up and showed the long jet black hair and dark gray eyes. "That's her!" Specks nodded and said, "So is the blonde. The picture on the left is of her before she Fell." I was stunned.

"She was so beautiful." I wondered how she turned from that, to what she was now. "Give me everything about her, Specks. From how she Fell and so on. All the way to current info." He nodded and went back to typing. The two images still danced in my head. It was hard for me to think that they were the same being. Specks clicked on something with his mouse and said, "Here's Sky's data. Huh. That's interesting."

I leaned forward and asked, "What? What did you find?" Specks adjusted his glasses and said, "She Fell not long ago. About the same time you guys fought Mason. She was running around the Realm and screaming something about a new world that her Lord would give to her if she helped him. The Higher Powers didn't want her to become a threat and made her Fall." _So she was a looney bird before._

"Keep going, Specks. I want to know everything about her." He nodded and continued. "Sky wanted to go to Earth to be with her Lord. Whoever the heck that is. Oh. You'll find this interesting. She's a Temptress." I felt clueless. "Temptress?" Specks nodded his head and looked seriously at the screen in front of him.

"A Temptress is an angel that has to ability to seduce somebody. They can make them do whatever they want, say whatever they want, and so forth. They use a form of mind control. And the more deeper they get into somebody's head, the quicker they fall victim and the harder it is for them to remember what happened with a Temptress."

I felt my jaw almost hit the floor. She had to be doing this with Shun. I asked before Specks could continue, "How do they start getting into somebody's head?" He scrolled down the page on his computer and said, "Usually by touch. It could be something as simple as hand holding or just lightly grazing the arm. But if a Temptress is touched, it doesn't after the person. It's purely up to them who their victim is. In history, some people would send Temptresses to get money from people and such."

I felt my hands growing cold at the thought of Sky in this building. "How did they know who they were sent for?" Specks smoothed down his nappy hair. "They usually seduce every male in the room till they see who they were sent for. Then they make contact and it usually goes downhill from there." I felt sick. I remembered how all the guys looked at her when we brought her into the building, and then how after she touched Shun they acted like she didn't exist.

She was seducing Shun. But for what? Why? None of us had ever seen her before. "Might I ask why you want to know all of this about Sky and Temptresses?" I met Speck's gaze through the computer and said flatly, "She's in the building. And I think she's after Shun." His eyes widened in shock. "That's not good. How long has she been there?" I thought for a moment. "About three or four days I think."

Specks ran a hand through his hair and said, "That isn't good. Not at all." I was worried now. "Why isn't that good? How long does it take for a Temptress to fully seduce somebody?" Specks took a deep breath and said, "About a week or longer. But Shun's been mixed up since the whole Mason thing. He's an easy target. It could only take a skilled Temptress a few days to get him."

I felt my eyes getting wider and wider. "Is there any way to break her spell on him?" Specks shook his head, and I felt a weight on my shoulders. I nodded my head and said, "Thank you so much for your time, Specks."

He nodded and I cut the connection right at the time that Sky walked down the stairs. A triumphant smile was plastered on her face. I stood up and said sternly. "What did you do?" Her grin only got wider.

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><p>chapter title is based off of Daughtry's Outta My Head. i found it suiting for some reason. lol. my fingers are bout to freeze off. well, read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~<p> 


	8. Gone Forever

_No One_

She had finally gotten into his mind all the way. He was at her mercy. He would have jumped or rolled over if she so desired him to. But her task wasn't quite done yet. She still had to sever the Bond he shared with that girl. It was her Lord's request, and she wouldn't stop until she succeeded.

After ambushing him in the hall, she had lead him back to his room. They were now on his bed, their lips touching the others. He kept whispering to her that he loved her. It wasn't true though. It was her powers that were making him say this. He didn't love her.

He loved that orange haired human. Which she found odd that a Fallen could love one. But she pushed that thought away from her mind. She had to finish up the job. She was so close that she could almost taste it. Her Lord would be pleased when she finally broke their Bond.

She shivered at the thought of how her Lord would reward her. All of this was worth leaving the Realm and helping him achieve his ultimate goal. And to rule by his side was just as an intoxicated thought as being with him. He was her Lord after all. The one that she would die for.

Not this Fallen she got forced to seduce. It sickened her anytime she had to kiss or hold him because he was her Lord's enemy. He brought her closer to him, and it took all of her strength not to push him off. _Do this for your Lord._ If she kept telling herself that, then she might be able to bare being in his arms. She leaned closer to his face and whispered softly, "I'll be yours. If you do something for me."

His glazed eyes showed just how deeply under her spell he was. Whoever he once was, he wasn't at that moment. No. He was whoever she wanted him to be as long as she kept a hold on his mind. He said to her hoarsely, "Anything." Now was her chance. She had to make her move now. He was so deep in her grasp that she couldn't pass this up. "Give up your Bond with that girl. And I'm all yours."

She thought for a minute that she saw a flash of defiance. And that he was about to snap out of her spell and break it. If it did, then all of her hard work would have been wasted. And she would have failed her Lord. She shot a message into his mind. _Don't defy her. Do as she says._ The defiance and resistance in his eyes faded, and they glazed back over. "Yes. I will relinquish my Bond with her. For you."

She smiled. She had won. Oh how her Lord would be pleased with her work! The one thing these Fallens didn't know was the other way to break a Bond without killing the other. The one who placed the Bond in the first place, could choose to release it. Although it was very painful for the person on the other end. It didn't matter how much pain either one of them were in.

Her Lord wanted them both alive, but the Bond gone. And she had done it. He hadn't given the Bond up yet though. She leaned into him and said, "Go ahead and break the Bond." She was using her powers to speed things along. The sooner she got her task completed, the sooner she could get out of his arms and back to her Lord.

He nodded and said, "I relinquish my Bond with Alice Gehabich." She could see something change in his eyes. The connection was gone. She smiled and felt victorious and triumphant. But she scowled when she realized she had to keep her end of the deal she made with him.

That was one reason she hated being a Temptress. If she made a promise for an exchange for something, she had to keep it. No matter who it was. She leaned in and kissed him again, and could hear the girl's cries of agony.

_Alice_

I was jolted awake by a sharp pain in my chest. I rolled over on my side and clutched my hand to where the pain radiated from. I didn't know why this pain was attacking me. At first, I was thinking I was having a heart attack, but it didn't make sense. I was too young and healthy for that.

The pain got worse, and I let out a cry. I made out Runo's shape through my blurred eyes. She came running to the side of my bed. "Alice! Alice! What's wrong!" I tried to tell her, but I couldn't speak. My breath felt like it was being taken away. Runo looked around frantically, not knowing what to do.

I heard her talking to herself. "Oh, what do I do? Should I call for an ambulance?" I wanted to tell her that there was no need to worry, but anytime I tried to speak the pain only got worse. I let out another cry, and felt my pillow under me being stained by my tears. Why was I hurting like this? The pain started to fade away, and I was able to breathe again.

My body felt tired from the experience. Runo was pacing back and forth, still trying to figure out what to do. She was never one good with pressure. I let out a sob and then coughed. I might have still been in pain, but it was nowhere near as bad as when it first hit me. Runo saw that my pain was going away, and ran back over next to me. "Oh God, Alice! What happened?"

I shook my head. I had just as much knowledge about this as she did. She stood up and said, "That's it. I'm calling my parents and telling them I'm taking you to the hospital and that they need to hurry back." I grabbed her hand, wondering how I had enough strength to pick my arm up.

I said weakly, "There's no need to do that. I'm feeling better. Honest." I didn't want to be the reason that her parents had to leave wherever they were at and come back. "Are you sure? You were in serious pain, Alice. You could be really sick." I forced myself to smile through what pain was left. "I'm sure. I just need to rest."

Runo was biting her lip and sighed. "Ok. I can't force you to go to the hospital if you don't want to. But if you need something just call me." I nodded and watched her reluctantly walk from my room. I rolled over onto my back like I had been before the pain hit. I looked out of my window.

The moon and stars looked beautiful. I felt my mind pause itself. I shouldn't be able to see the moon, stars, sky or any of that because of my Bond with Shun. I closed my eyes tight, thinking that the pain had messed with my mind. But every time I opened them back up, I saw the moon.

If I could see all of this, then that meant my Bond was broken with Shun. The only ways I had known them to be broken was either by death or repaying the life debt. I didn't repay the debt. That only left the death stipulation. _No. Shun can't be dead._ I felt tears forming in my eyes again.

_No One_

She had commanded him to fall asleep, and he had done so without so much as a word. She gathered all of her belongings she had brought with her when she faked collapsing in front of the building. She had changed back into her clothes and looked down at him. He looked tired and drained. She may have over estimated the amount of power she needed to put into seducing him. _My Lord did tell me his mind wasn't as strong as it usually was._

She should have added in that factor. It explained why he was so easily and quickly falling victim to her charms. As she looked at him, she could feel his memory already slipping away from him. By sunrise, he wouldn't remember any of this. None of what happened between them. None of what he had said. He would only wake up in his bed and fell tired. But why did she feel guilt.

She had seduced tons of men before, and never had any regrets before. Why was he any different? He couldn't have been any different from the rest. Still looking at him, she felt disgusted by what she had to do though. All she wanted was her Lord, not him. He was the enemy. He moved and rolled over from his side to his stomach, but didn't wake up. How could this Fallen be her Lord's rival?

The one who had foiled his past plans? How? He looked harmless enough. Especially so drained and tired. Then she thought about it. He hadn't done in Tristan when her Lord corrupted his mind. It had been the girl. He hadn't killed Mason when he became an Angel of Omen with her Lord's help. It had been the girl too. But as she pondered that, it confused her more.

The girl looked more innocent than her ex-Bondage did. She shook her head, realizing that she had overstayed her welcome now that her job was done. She walked down the stairs to leave the building, holding her head high with the pride of succeeding her Lord's bidding. But she stopped at the kitchen and saw the Ebony girl standing over a laptop. She smiled. "What did you do?"

Did she really want to waste more of her time telling this Fallen what she had done, when she could hurry back to her Lord and be in his embrace? Yes. She did want to speak about it. She wanted to gloat and marvel at her work. Despite the guilt that was in her chest. She walked closer to the girl and said, "I broke his Bond with that girl."

She enjoyed watching her eyes widen in shock. Ever since she had been here, this Ebony had been giving her looks every chance she had gotten. The girl snapped at her, "How? You didn't kill him did you?" She threw her head back and laughed, just like her Lord did. "No, fool. I made him relinquish his Bond." Ebony's eyes narrowed at her. The girl hissed her words to her, "You used your seduction abilities. You can do that because you're a Temptress."

She was surprised by how much this girl new. She continued. "You left the Realm to serve some 'Lord.' Who is he? Who sent you here to do this?" Her Lord would have her head if she spoke his name. She shook her head and waved her hand nonchalantly. "I can't tell you this, for I must be going. Thank you for your hospitality to me in my time of need." She laughed wickedly and walked out of the door. Savoring the look on the Ebony girl's face.

_Shun_

My eyes were heavy when I opened them. Waves of pain pulsed through my head and body. If I ever wanted to know what being hit by a car felt like, I knew now. I rolled over from my stomach to my back, and cringed in pain from moving. I couldn't remember anything from last night. Nothing. The last image I had was Sky in the hallway. That was where it ended for me. For some reason,

I felt….Incomplete. Like something was missing that was there yesterday. I heard footsteps pounding up the stairs, and Ebony came running into my room. I forced myself to sit up and asked, "What happened?" She looked angry, worried, and shocked all at once.

She snapped, "Before you gave up your Bond with Alice and slept with Sky? Or after?" I felt my eyes widen and my stomach turn. "I didn't sleep with Sky! I'd never stoop that low! Or give up my Bond with Alice! You know how much I care about her!"

Ebony ran a hand through her long hair and said, "I know you'd never do either of those things, but you did." I didn't believe her. She had to be pulling my leg. Adam might have put her up to doing this to me. "I did not!" Ebony looked me square in my eyes and said, "Sky was a Temptress sent to seduce you and give up your Bond with Alice! She succeeded! She made you break your Bond!"

I saw in her eyes that she wasn't lying. I suddenly felt sick. No. I was going to be sick. I ran to my bathroom, despite my aching body. I leaned against the cabinets when I felt done, and looked at my shaking hands. "No. No. I couldn't have done that. I'd never do that." Sweat was pouring down my forehead.

Ebony was standing in the doorway and looking down at me. "I know you'd never do that, but you had no say in what you did or said. That's how she works. Sky had that ability, and she used it on you." I turned and snapped at her, "Then why don't I remember any of it!"

Ebony flinched back, not expecting me to yell. She said flatly, "She wiped your memory every time after you did something with her." I felt like I was going to be sick again. Every blank in my memory was when she did something to me. There was no telling what all of that was.

"But Bonds can't be given up though. Not that I know of." Ebony shook her head and said, "I thought the same thing. Apparently the holder can give it up whenever they want to." I couldn't believe any of this. But it happened.

Ebony wouldn't make something like this up. She held out my hand and said, "Come on. We have to tell the others. We both know they'll find out eventually." I nodded my head, but felt like I wasn't myself. I had fallen victim to something horrible.

_No One_

She finally made her way back to her Lord's hideout. It was still very dark outside. It hadn't taken her more that a few minutes to get back to him. For somebody so powerful though, she thought he had something more than an office. She was kneeling before him. He asked, "How did your mission go?"

She smiled wryly and said, "It was successful. He gave up his Bond without any resistance. You were right about his mind being week, my Lord." He smiled and walked in front of her. Then, he placed his hands on her shoulders and pulled her up to her feet to meet his eyes. A blush crossed her face.

In her eyes, darkness had made him gorgeous. Just as it was in his own eyes. She placed a kiss on his lips. It felt good to her to be back in her Lord's embrace instead of the other boy's. This felt more right to her. She didn't have to seduce him to feel loved by him. She knew he loved her anyway.

Although she tried to use her powers on him to make him love her more, but he was much too powerful for her. She ran her hands along his strong chest, feeling it move as he breathed. He told her, "You did a very good. You are my most loyal, and beautiful servant. I'm am grateful you Fell for me. And me only."

He was seducing the Temptress and she didn't even know it. She was too lost in his eyes, but her instincts told her to look down. And she did. A gasp left her mouth when she saw a dark mist surround his hand, turn into a black dagger. She staggered back and fell to the floor and hit her head on the wall.

The dark night in the window behind him made him look fearsome. The gorgeous Messenger that was her Lord, was gone. Before her was a monster that had used her. Ropes of darkness came from behind him, and held her down. He knelt down in front of her, and wiped a tear from her cheek.

"Shh. Don't panic. You have served me well, but now you're no longer needed." She narrowed her tear filled eyes at him and said, "I hope they kill you! You are no Lord to me any longer! I should have never Fallen for you! They will cut your head off and give you the punishment you deserve!"

He stood up, looking undisturbed by her words. He lifted the dagger up, and no matted how loud she screamed, nobody would hear her. She felt the first strike of the blood go through her stomach.

He knelt back in front of her, and kissed her as he pulled the dagger from her body. Blood came from her mouth and got on his, but he didn't seem to care. "Good-bye, my loyal servant." He then took the blade to her throat.

_Shun_

We made our way downstairs, and I saw everyone that was in the building in the kitchen. It was then that I noticed it was growing light outside. Adam was rubbing his eyes and asked, "What the hell was with all the yelling up there? And why was my laptop down here?"

Bertha saw me first, and ran over to my side. Just as if she knew this was going to happen, my legs buckled under me and she caught me. Thatch jumped up and helped get me over to one of the chairs. Bertha turned to Ebony and asked sternly, "What happened to him?"

I laid my head down on the cool wooden table, and shut my eyes as pain still went through me. Ebony turned to everyone in the room, and started to explain everything. About how and why Sky Fell, and what she was doing to me.

I hated hearing the story again, but they needed to. I made myself sit up in the chair. Bertha bent down next to me and asked if I needed anything to drink. I probably did, but I turned her offer down. I felt weak and useless. Drained and confused. Like I wasn't myself.

And I wasn't. The others shook their heads, unable to digest the story of what Sky had done to me. Just as I had. There was a knocking at the door, and Bertha got up to answer it.

I heard her say, "Oh my. I'll tell them. Thank you, Rick." I rolled my eyes. Rick was the gossip hound among Fallens. He spread rumors faster than zombie virus' spread in movies. Bertha came back into the room and said, "Sky's been murdered."

* * *

><p><em>title based off of Gone Forever by Three Days Grace.<em> twisty turny twisty turny. XP they can be such fun for me. XP just a reference, Sky went back to Kiba while it was still late at night. plenty enough time for her body to be found by morning and for word to get out. just clarifying if i wasnt clear up there. ^.^ yes this chapter focused mainly on her, but she was killed. XP i'm sure that made a few people happy, but you never know. just like in _Heaven's Calling_ everyone hated Damien but loved him in the end. so, ya never know. XP read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	9. Trade Mistakes

_Shun_

I nearly felt my jaw hit the floor. Most of us had just seen her last night. Including me, but I had no recollection of it. Ebony looked at Bertha and said in a shocked tone, "Murdered? By who?"

Bertha shook her head and said flatly, "The investigators aren't sure. They found her body off in a ditch on the outer part of town. Rick told me that she was sliced up by a knife or some kind of blade." I didn't have anything to say. Adam looked at around and said, "Ok, I'm as pissed off as the next guy for what she did to Shun, but damn. She didn't deserve to be carved up like a Christmas ham! Right, Shun?"

I kept my mouth shut and eyes away from his. I just kept looking straightforward at the wood table in front of me. He asked me, "You're really thinking that she deserved this?" Bertha stepped in a saved me. "Shun's still tired. I say we let him rest and then talk about this matter."

I turned around to get up from the table, but met Ebony's serious gaze. "You're going to have to tell Alice, you know that right? She doesn't know what really happened to your Bond. And trust me, when she sees the sun or something like that she's going to figure out it's gone."

The idea of telling Alice made me feel sick. Would she understand if I told her that I was being controlled and had no say or memory of what I did? Alice was rational. She'd have to understand. Bertha told Ebony, "Let him get firmer on his feet before he goes out to tell Alice what happened."

Ebony nodded, but I saw she wanted me to go now. We both knew all too well that Alice had probably been awake for a few hours and noticed something she wasn't able to see cause of our Bond. I didn't even bother going back upstairs to my room. I just crashed on the couch instead, and thought.

I was just about to drift off to sleep, when that pain shot through my head. It felt worse than all the other times combined, and I rolled off the couch and landed on the floor. I let out a cry and could hear the others running into the room to see what was happening.

They vanished when everything went black instead of two glowing red eyes. I had seen them before. They belonged to those creatures in my dream and last two visions. Behind it, an image of what looked like a city showed up. It was completely destroyed and burned to the ground.

I guessed those things had done it, but it didn't look like any city I had seen. My attention went back to the creature's eyes. When I looked closer, they looked familiar. Like I had seen them before. Anytime I looked at them, I felt a deep ache in my chest. An ache from loss.

But I didn't know this thing. It threw its head back and howled. My eyes opened to the blurred images of my Clan mates. I felt something cool on my forehead, and brought my head up to feel a damp washcloth that Bertha most likely placed on me. When I turned my head over, a felt something warm touch my cheek.

When I touched it, I saw blood. Bertha told me calmly, "When you cried out we ran in here and saw you laying on the floor in pain." I figured that much since I was the one in pain. I asked hoarsely, "Where'd the blood come from?" None of my past visions had resulted in blood. "You hit your head on the coffee table when you fell off the couch."

Sure enough, there was a little blood on the corner or the coffee table. Adam said smartly, "I told you we should have moved that thing back. All its ever done it cause us pain." Thatch retorted back to him, "You're the only one who hits their toe on it." The two were starting to bicker, and Bertha broke them up before the fight got any worse.

My head pulsed with every noise made in the room. I was wondering if it was from the vision or the gash in my head. Bertha knelt down by me and asked, "Why did you really cry out? I know it wasn't from hitting your head, so don't even try that. It was the same thing that happened to you when I found you on the stairs, wasn't it?"

I nodded my head as best as I could without causing myself more pain. Bertha looked much older and wiser than before. She asked, "What has been plaguing you?" Might as well tell her because it seemed like keeping them bottled up and not telling anyone hasn't worked out all that well.

I thought of the vision where Alice was being cornered and I saw she didn't have our Bond anymore. The Bond part came true, so why wouldn't the rest of what I saw? The creatures tearing apart the city, Alice and my friends being cornered, the mysterious city being laid to waste.

I told them, "I've been having these visions. Let's just say they're pretty vivid, and painful." Adam threw up his hands and said, "Now he's a prophet! Great! Can't we ever win!"

Ebony backhanded him, and they suddenly reminded me of Dan and Runo. Bertha rolled her eyes at them and went back to focusing on me. "What have you seen?" I told her everything from the first dream I had where I saw the creatures for the first time, to the vision I just had.

Bertha leaned back and thought for a moment, and said, "From everything I've read, visions usually aren't painful unless they are being shown to somebody from another being. Then the one showing the vision would have to break into the person's mind to give them the images they want them to see."

I was starting to get tired of people messing with my mind. So far it's only gotten me hurt and to give up my Bond with Alice. Ebony asked, "So somebody's been putting these vision into Shun's head?" Bertha nodded. Adam said sarcastically, "Time to change the lock up there, buddy."

I narrowed my eyes at him, but it only caused me to cringe in pain. I forced myself to sit up. Bertha put her hand on my back to steady me and keep me from falling back down. She said, "You shouldn't strain yourself. You've gone through a lot the past few days." _You don't say._

I placed my fingers on the part of my head that hit the table. I could already feel the wound healing up, and it would be gone in no time. I said, "The minute I can stand without falling over, I'm going to the café to speak with Alice."

Bertha looked like she was about to protest, but she backed down and sighed. She knew, even though I wasn't fit at the moment to do anything, that this was something that I needed to do. Whether I wanted to or not.

_Alice_

Runo had closed down the café because of what happened to me last night. She knew her parents would understand when she told them what happened.

I still felt like it was an unneeded measure to take. I looked back at my window to the blue sky and sun. It was like seeing the world again for the first time. Although I desperately missed seeing the barrier. That was the only thing showing that I was connected to Shun.

My mind still ached to know what happened to him. I felt tears starting to sting my eyes again at the thought that he might be gone forever when everyone needed him most. When I needed him most. My body was still aching and weak from the immense pain that I felt last night.

It could only have been our Bond breaking. That much I figured since after the pain went away, I could see the moon and stars. My phone hadn't rang all morning. I was expecting to see at least a text from Ebony telling me if something happened to Shun. Perhaps something happened to her as well.

How many of the Clan were really gone now? And what happened to them if they were? I rolled onto my side and clutched my pillow to my chest. It was the closest thing to comfort and security I had gotten. But it didn't ease my rampaging thoughts.

I felt like a little kid being afraid of the monsters in her closet or under her bed. Without my Bond to Shun, I felt vulnerable. I hadn't ever realized how much him being in my life affected me. I heard Runo talking to somebody downstairs. I made out only a few words. "She's upstairs."

Was the only audible words I heard. Was it Bertha or one of the others from the Clan coming to tell me what happened to Shun? I suddenly didn't feel ready for the truth, even though I wanted it like I had never wanted anything else in my life. I sat up in my bed, bracing myself for whoever walked in. But I wasn't that well prepared when I saw Shun step through my door.

_Shun_

I walked into her room, and saw her sitting up on her bed. She obviously wasn't expecting me. A sudden rush of nausea hit me at the thought of telling her what happened to our Bond. Her eyes lit up and she jumped out of her bed and wrapped her arms around me. I heard her saying, "I thought you were dead. I thought you were dead."

I looked down at her. Her eyes were red from where she had been crying, and her skin tone looked paler. She also looked smaller and more frail. Not like the person who had killed Tristan and Mason. It was like I was looking at a completely new person. Maybe the Bond affected how I saw her just as she saw me.

I cringed at the thought of her not being able to see who I really am anymore. She wouldn't see my wings or my real eyes. None of that. She asked me, "What happened? Why can't I see the barrier or anything like that? What happened to our Bond?" I suddenly felt like a traitor to her.

She had so much trust in me. I felt tempted to make something up, but it would only return and bite me in the end. I had to tell her the truth. I took a deep breath, making sure I worded this carefully. "Sky made me give up our Bond." Her eyes widened, and see looked at me with disbelief just as everyone had.

"What? What do you mean she made you give up our Bond?" I swallowed the lump in my throat and continued. "She seduced me. Got inside of my head and made me say and do things that I would never do. She made me give up our Bond."

Alice shook her head and I saw tears were forming in her eyes. "You gave up our Bond for Sky?" I shook my head. I should have known this would be a lot for her to take in, and that she wouldn't be rational about it. "No. I didn't give it up on my own will. I'd never give up our Bond." She snapped at me, "Then why did you!"

I flinched back, not expecting her to yell. I tried to remain calm and said, "I didn't! She was a Temptress. That's what they do. They get inside your head and control you to get what they want. Sky wanted to me to give up our Bond." Alice yelled, "Then why did you give her our Bond if you would never do that!"

I sighed in aggravation. She was getting more and more irrational at the moment. The only thing that was registering in her mind was that I gave away my Bond with her to Sky. And that was all that was getting through to her. If I didn't turn this around quickly, she might never forgive me.

I put my hands on her shoulders and tried to remain as calm as I could be. "Alice, listen to me. I'm begging you. I don't want to lose you and I will if you don't hear me out." Alice didn't say anything, and only looked at me with her tear stained eyes.

"Sky was sent by somebody to do this to me. I didn't want anything that happened between me and her. And she also wiped my memory of all of those times. The only reason I know what happened was because Ebony found out and told me. If she hadn't, then I'd still be at the tenement building and you'd still think I was dead." I used my thumb to wipe away a tear rolling down her cheek.

She seemed to be calming down, and I thought I was getting through to her. _Alice, please listen for just a little while longer._ "I didn't have any say in what I did with Sky. She made me do all of those things." Alice was looking down at her feet. "Where's Sky now?" I sighed and said, "She's dead. Somebody found her body cut up in a ditch." Alice took in a shaky breath and asked, "Are you happy she's dead?"

I thought for a moment. "I kind of am. She caused all of this, and karma repaid her for all the pain she's caused us. But deep down I know that thinking that makes me a bad person. I still have a conscience." She nodded and looked up at me from her feet. Fresh tears were going down her cheeks, and I felt like kicking myself for causing all of this. _It's better to face this kind of thing now instead of later._

She looked at her room door behind me and said, "Go." I was taken aback. "Go?" She nodded and said with no emotion, "Yes. I know that truth now, and I want to be alone to think about it." I put my hands back on her shoulders and asked softly, "What do you need to think about?"

She looked away from me, then met my gaze and said flatly, "Whether or not I forgive you." I took in a quick gasp. After all of this, she still wasn't sure she wanted to forgive me?

"I just explained everything to you. I didn't mean to any of what I did. Hell, if it wasn't for Ebony I still wouldn't know. All I'm going by is her word." Alice didn't say anything to me. I sighed and said, "Fine."

I turned and walked out of her room and down the stairs to the café. Runo saw me and asked, "What was with all that yelling?" I didn't answer and just kept on walking and keeping her from seeing the tears going down my face.

* * *

><p><em>chapter title brought to you is by Panic! At The Disco and called Trade Mistakes of course.<em> i highly recomend listening to it on youtube. ^^ if you do, tell me what you thinks about it. it's basically just about saying that he'd give anything to trade the mistakes he's made. XP i find it very suiting. i almost cried while writing this chapter. o.o and i'm not very emotion when it comes to my writing. lol. well, it's a good day for me. ^^ very good. XP read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	10. Line Of Fire

_Shun_

It started to rain after I left the café, and that only dampened my mood even more. Instead of going back towards the tenement building, I went the opposite way. Last thing on my mind was facing my Clan mates and Bertha and having to relive what just happened between me and Alice.

I kept my head down just enough that my hair covered my eyes. The rain started as just a slight mist, and then the bottom fell out. Rain poured from the sky, and I soaked in minutes. Out of basic instinct of not wanting to stay out in it, I was under the nearest awning I could find.

The striped canvas above me kept the rain off of me, and I watched the water cascade from it and land on the sidewalk in front of me. The streets were now abandoned with the sudden downpour, and the only people out were ones in their cars.

I had two choices; stay under the awning till the rain subsided, or make a mad dash back to the tenement building through the storm. I sighed and turned to find a little bench was placed next to the wall, and was just enough under the awning that rain wasn't getting on it.

I took a seat and hoped whoever owned the business behind me didn't get pissed cause I was sitting there. The sky was growing darker and darker by the minute, and I could see the storm clouds rolling across the sky. Wind picked up and knocked one of the potted plants over next to me.

The ceramic pot shattered at the dirt in it went everywhere and quickly turned to mud. I watched the water on the ground spread it around whatever way it decided to go. When I checked the sky again, it was looking like nightfall was approaching, and the rain and wind were picking up and becoming fiercer.

If I had the choice of flying earlier, it was out of the question now. I wasn't even strong enough to fight those winds. A flash of lightning lit up the sky and shortly followed by thunder. It was obvious enough now that I wasn't waiting out this storm.

I sighed and regretting going to opposite way of the tenement building. It only made my walk through this longer than I desired. _Just proves you can't run away from your problems._ Lightning struck a tree that was across the street, and it caught on fire. The wail of fire trucks were already sounding out in the distance, and I knew in no time that the street would be littered with them.

And I didn't really want to be around when they showed up. I stood up from the bench and faced the direction I had come from, and darted through the rain. I didn't think it was coming down that hard, but it was and actually hurt. That's when I figured out it wasn't rain that was hitting me, it was hail.

The hail wasn't very large, but any object falling from the sky hurts, no matter how you look at it. The sky was now completely dark, and it was only a little after noon. Something wasn't right about this. This couldn't be just a random spring storm. I heard the snapping of a tree behind me that had most likely been knocked over by the wind.

I stopped running and looked around to know what street I was on to know if I had passed the tenement building. I couldn't see much in front of me in the dark and through the pouring rain. The streetlights hadn't even kicked on yet, and if they had then they were being blocked out like everything else. I finally found a street sign and saw I hadn't past the tenement building.

I sighed in relief and kept running. It wouldn't turn out very good for me if I got lost out in this. I made out the shape of the building ahead of me and started to run faster, but froze in my place and stopped running. There was a howling in the distance. One that I had heard on several occasions in my visions. It was coming from the direction of the forest that Tristan and I had fought in.

More chimed in with it. I slowly backed down the street and ran into the tenement building. The doormat under me was already wet from me just standing on it.

Bertha called out from the kitchen, "Shun? That you?" I called back to her, "Yeah. It's me." She walked out from the kitchen and saw me. "You're soaking wet." _Really? I hadn't noticed._ I bit back the smart comments I wanted to say.

It was a smart move since Bertha had a wooden spoon in her hand, and she wouldn't hesitate to beat somebody with it. Adam had learned that the hard way. I looked down at my clothes and said, "Yeah. I kind of got caught in the rain."

She rolled her eyes and pointed upstairs and said, "Get into some dry clothes and put those in the laundry room. Then mop up whatever water you got on the wood floor so somebody doesn't slip on it. Then you can come back down here and talk with me." I blinked, and looked around.

I didn't see any of my other Clan mates, or hear them talking or yelling at one another. "Where are the others?" Bertha walked back in from the kitchen and said, "Still wherever they were when the storm hit. There was a city wide lock-in placed and won't let out till the storm ends. I think Ebony's locked in some department store or something like that. They had all gone somewhere after you left. Apparently, you were the only one out of them insane enough to run through this mess."

When she turned her back I rolled my eyes and headed up the stairs. I had just put on a dry shirt when the power shut down. Like an idiot, I tried the switches. Nothing of course. I carefully made my way towards the window in my room, and pulled the curtains back.

I was trying to see how much worse the storm had gotten. The only thing I could make out was water cascading down the streets. I was about to make my way back downstairs to Bertha, but stopped short of the doorknob. I pressed my ear against the door, and remained quiet.

There was a growling on the other side. I dropped to the floor and looked under the door. A clawed foot slammed down in front of me and caused me to jump back. The memory flashed in my mind of the first time I had seen those creatures in a dream. That was exactly what they looked like.

Out of panic, I scrambled my way into my bathroom and locked the door. My heart was pounding, and for a moment I thought that thing would hear it. It let out that howl that I heard before I walked back into the tenement building. Up close it was loud and shrill, and caused me to cover my ears or go deaf if I didn't. I heard the thing walking away and back down the stairs.

I let out a relieved sigh now that it was gone. I slowly walked out of my bathroom, and walked back to the door. There was a voice down there, and not Bertha's. I then realized that Bertha was down there when those things got in here. The voice then spoke, "Are you sure that he's not here?" I gasped when I recognized the voice. Kiba. He was talking to those things, commanding them.

I cracked open the door just enough that I might have been able to see something. I could only make out their dark outlines. One of the creatures growled and nodded their heads. Kiba said, "Fine. There's no more use for this place. Burn it down." I closed my door and dug into my dresser and pulled out a black hoodie. I quickly put it on and pulled the hood over my head.

In the corner of my room, something caught my eye. It was the sword that I had stolen from one of Tristan's Clan mates. I grabbed it. The smoke detectors started going off in the entire building. I cracked my door again to see if they were gone, and they were. The entire downstairs was already in flames.

My first thought was about Bertha though. I darted down the stairs and made it to the kitchen through a little opening in the flames. "Bertha!" I shot out of the kitchen and called her name again. No answer. The old support beams above me had started to catch fire, and jumped out of the way when they fell. It wouldn't be much longer before the whole building came down.

"Bertha!" I heard something move around in the main entrance, and found her pinned under the support beams that fell. "Bertha!" I found a path through the flames and made my way to her side. "Bertha! Hang on!" I tried to get the beams off of her, but she grabbed my hand and looked right up at me.

"Shun, it's not worth it. You have to get out of here. Now." I narrowed my eyes at her and said, "I'm not about to leave you here to be burned. You're coming with me." She shook her head. "No. You need to get out of here. Go."

I felt tears starting to sting my eyes. I couldn't tell if they were from the smoke or the idea of leaving Bertha for dead. She gave me her stubborn look, and I nodded my head. A beam fell when I turned around, and it almost caught me. I caught one more glance at Bertha, and saw her mouth to me, "Go."

The memory of Alice telling me to go rushed back into my mind, but I shook it away and found my way back to the door and ran outside.

The rain had gone back to a slight drizzle, but it was pitch black out. I turned around to see almost every floor and room in the tenement building was on fire. The wails of fire engines flew by me, but I just kept the hood over my face and kept walking.

_Alice_

When I had told Shun to leave, I walked down the stairs and saw Runo looking at the door with a confused expression. She turned to me and saw I had been crying. "Alice, what happened up there?" She ran to me and hugged me, and I hugged back. I said, "It's a long story. And I'd rather not talk about it right now."

Runo nodded her head and told me, "I understand. You tell me whenever you feel like it." I broke our hug and smiled at her through my teary eyes. "Thanks, Runo." Runo smiled and looked out of the window. "Looks like we're in store for some rain." I looked out with her. The clouds looked just like the barrier to the Realm, and I felt a new wave of tears forming. I felt Runo's hand on my back.

"It's going to be alright, Alice." I wished I could believe her. I walked over to one of the booths and sat down, then buried my face into my hands. Runo slid in the seat across from me. "My parents are going to be back here tomorrow cause I called them." I took my face from my hands and looked at her.

"I told you that you didn't have to call them because of me." Now I felt bad that I was the reason they had to cut their anniversary short. She said, "I know, Alice. But you obviously aren't yourself right now, and I can't run this place by myself. They need to come back, and they didn't sound mad at all when I told them that."

I didn't say anything to her after that. She stood up and said, "How about I fix you some soup?" I said softly, "Yeah. Sure." Runo left and went back into the kitchen. I just wanted some alone time for the moment. So many emotions were running through my mind; anger because of what Shun did, sadness that our Bond was gone now, and regret that I had told him to leave when I wasn't thinking clearly. I looked out the window at the sky. It was getting darker and darker, and the wind was picking up.

I felt just like that storm that was coming did. Just a big bunched up mass of emotions waiting to explode. Runo leaned out from the kitchen door and turned on the TV that her dad had put up. It was on the weather station. Some guy was talking about how this storm came out of nowhere, and that it would be bad.

He also said that the city was issuing a lock-in for everyone until the storm passed to ensure the safety of the people. The storm turned from ominous to full out horrible in no time. The sky was totally black now, and wind, rain, and hail whipped around outside. Runo and I kept up with the weather reports, but the power then shut off.

Runo sighed and said, "I'll crank up the generator." I nodded and watched her vanish into another room. The power then came back on, and everything else followed it. The news was covering a building that had caught on fire from what they thought was a lightning strike.

They showed the building, and I couldn't help but gasp. It was the tenement building. They showed video footage of the fire fighters trying to put the flames out. The anchorman then showed back up and said they had one reported death. _Please don't let it be Shun._

Tears were forming in my eyes again with the thought that it may have been Shun they were carrying out. Instead, they said the body was identified as Bertha. I covered my mouth with my hand to try and hide my shocked expression, but it wasn't helping hide the tears running down my face.

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><p>beh. it's raining here now. o.o strangeness. lol. well, at a loss for words. read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~<p> 


	11. Comfort In Death

_Alice_

I stared at the TV, horror and sadness still in my eyes. Runo let out her own expression of shock by saying, "Oh my gosh. That's horrible." Runo had only met Bertha on one occasion and it was at the café not two days ago. I stared at the screen that was showing the charred building having the last of its flames put out. I said flatly, "It wasn't an accident."

I could feel Runo's eyes on me, but I kept my gaze up to the TV. "What are you talking about, Alice? They said it was from a lightning strike. A freak accident. They found no proof of arson." They could find all they want, but I wasn't about to believe it for one minute. I turned to her and said, "I'm not sure how I know, but that building was set on fire." _Somebody was looking for Shun._

I felt like tears were ready to form again, but they didn't. I had spilt so many in such little time. Runo looked out of the window we were sitting next to and said, "The rains letting up. Maybe we won't have to run the generator much longer." I nodded, and pretended to care about the rain or the generator. A banging on the glass door to the café startled both of us. Runo raised an eyebrow and said, "Wonder who's out in this weather."

I felt tense as she approached the door. It was still too dark outside to see. She unlocked the latch and Dan, Julie, and Murucho came tumbling in; soaking wet and wide eyed. Runo looked at them with surprise in her eyes, "What are you guys doing out there!"

Dan hugged Runo tightly for a few seconds before he answered her question. He said, "Come on. We need to get out of here and get back to Murucho's. It's safe there." I was standing up from the booth now, and watching Runo try and pry explanations out of Dan.

"Why is it any safer there than it is here, Dan? What's going on?" Murucho chimed in to try and make all of this rational for us. "I've opened the shelter under my place for people to have safety and we're taking you two there. We'll explain what's going on later, but right now we aren't safe standing right here." Runo and I exchanged looks.

I knew she was thinking they were insane, but I was perfectly calm other than wanting to know what was going on. I nodded my head and said, "Ok. Let's get out of here before the rain picks up again." I had to force Runo to go upstairs and get some of her belongings.

She kept dogging me about why I agreed to go with them and was trying to see what I knew about everything. I turned around and snapped at her, "I don't know any more than you, but I do know we need to get out of here!" She stayed shut up after that.

We both went down the stairs with lightweight bags over our shoulders that were filled with clothes. Nobody knew when we might be able to come back here. Murucho nodded and said, "Let's hurry. We have just a short walk to my place." Runo gawked at him and said, "Walk? You didn't bring Kato and the limo or something like that?" Murucho shook his head and told her, "The streets are too flooded for anything to be out on them."

Runo didn't seem pleased with having to run out in the rain, but when I cut her a look she didn't say anything. Runo then shut down the generator, and when we walked out of the café, she locked the door. Murucho told us, "I'm sorry for not bringing umbrellas, but we kind of rushed out of my place to find you guys."

Runo and I nodded our heads, and didn't comment on what the short blonde said. Murucho wasn't lying when he said the streets were flooded. A good two inches cascaded down the black asphalt and splashed onto the sidewalk occasionally. I didn't think it rained that much. The rain was all but a mist when we were in eyesight of Murucho's mansion, but we were still damp and wet.

There was a low growl coming from behind, and we all stopped and turned around to see what it was. Julie said shakily, "Maybe it was just a dog." There wasn't anything dog-like about that growl, and the others seemed to know it too but were denying it. Out of the dark shadows across the street, two creatures jumped out and cornered us.

All of us were as close up against the wall as we could get as we tried to get away from it. When I looked closer at it, the creature fit in with the description of the things in his dream and visions. As the two monsters closed in on us, they nipped at each other and growled.

Their sharp, glowing red eyes fixed on us and seeped the want to kill. Out of instinct, I yelled. "Shun!" Dan yelled back at me, "What's he going to do! We couldn't even find him in this city!"

Fear was gripping the others, including me. Shun had said these things looked terrifying, and they were much more than that. They were five feet away from us, and still slowly closing in on us as if to savor the moment that they ripped us apart.

I turned my head to the side when one put its face next to mine and sniffed me. Its breath was hot, and rank of death. They both drew back to finish us off, and two gunshots echoed out into the city. Then the two creatures dropped to the ground and didn't move. Blood came from a wound in their heads, and one of their feet twitched as the rest of its life ended.

All of us were looking around for what had shot those things and saved us. I saw up on the top of a building the dark outline of somebody, I couldn't make out facial features or anything, other than he had wings. _Shun?_ He turned around and disappeared from the roof.

Runo grabbed my hand and said, "Let's get out of here before more of those things show up!" She was now pulling me along the sidewalk with the others as we rushed to Murucho's for safety.

_Shun_

The rain was dissipating, and was now just a fine mist floating in the dark air. Bertha's face kept popping up in my mind as I walked down the street. I wasn't sure where I was going. Away I guess. So much had fallen apart before my eyes could even blink, and I didn't want to go on and fight anymore. I turned onto another street, and saw cars with deep gashes into the metal.

The image of my vision hit me again, and I could picture those things running down this street and doing this. They were here now. I just kept on walking by, not looking at the damage they had caused. I stopped when I thought I heard my name yelled out, but when I stopped to see if I could hear it again, it never came. _It was probably just the wind._ I looked onto the water filled streets.

I could make out my reflection in the choppy water. It was like I was looking at an entirely different person. This wasn't me. It couldn't have been me. I shook my head and looked up at the black sky. The fine mist fell on my face. _What do I do, Lucy?_ Lucy.

She had been killed by Tristan in the most brutal way he could think of, but she didn't give in until she told us he was coming. That was Lucy for you. She never gave up until the very end. Lucy was also one of the best friends I had, even when I was little and before the Brawlers formed.

And even before the Clans formed, we stayed closely in touch. She was like a sister, maybe even more but I never realized it. I said under my breath, "It's pointless now. She's gone. Alice is gone. Bertha's gone. It's all gone." I turned away from my reflection and kept on walking down the sidewalk. I didn't care if this path took me out of the city. Anywhere was good for me.

To start over sounded like a guilty pleasure to me. I stopped dead in my tracks, and jumped to the side into an alley and hid. It was Paul and his Clan. They looked beaten, battered, and about to fall over and collapse. Standing before them, was Kiba with two of those creatures flanking his sides.

Somehow, I recognized them as the ones who burned down the tenement building. One looked fierce and ready to attack at the first order given, and the other looked like it didn't want to be doing this. _As if those things even have any emotions or soul in them._ Paul was a few feet from Kiba and was saying, "Don't do this, Kiba! It's not too late for you to turn back and stop all of this!"

His Clan mates wobbled on their feet and looked like a bunch of beaten dogs. They were hunkering behind Paul for protection from their abuser. Kiba laughed, and it made my skin crawl with hate towards him. "I have to do this, Paul. It's my destiny to become the Lord and create a new Realm, and destroy this world down here so none of its hatred and greed can contaminate the air I breathe again."

_He's lost his damn mind._ Paul shook his head and kept his eyes fixed on Kiba. "It will never work. You may have burned down our home and taken out half of my Clan, but you won't stop us right here." Kiba waved his hand nonchalantly and said, "I could give a rat's ass about your Clan being a threat to my plans. I mean, look at them! They're pitiful! But if you se desire to stop me, then try."

Kiba held out his arms and opened himself up to Paul. The Black Iris's Clan leader charged at Kiba, and when he was almost to him, a rope of darkness lashed out and tied itself around Paul's neck. He was suspended in the air as the darkness strangled him. When I strained my eyes, I saw it was burning him too. One of his Clan mates yelled out, "Paul! Paul!" I looked around and saw it was Delilah, his wife.

Tears were streaking down her face as she watched him have the life taken from him. Paul was then slammed to the ground, and didn't move after that. Delilah was being held back by others in the Clan, and she soon gave in and dropped to the ground. I wasn't sure if they had kids or not, and I felt a pain of loss for her if they had any or not.

Kiba rolled his eyes and said, "Aw. Too bad. Hey, look at it like this. I could have had my Abominations rip him apart before your very eyes." _So that's what he calls them. Suiting name._ He snapped his fingers and walked off into the shadows, followed by his Abominations.

One of them stopped though, and looked right in my direction. I froze, wondering if it saw me. Somehow, I knew this was the one that was outside of my room door before they set the building on fire. I stared right into the eyes. There was no sign of a soul or anything, but beyond the glowing red of them I saw something.

Or more like somebody. It took one last look in my direction and stalked off into the shadows after Kiba. I stepped out of the alley and approached Paul's Clan. Their eyes flew up to me, and fear scorched their eyes at the thought that somebody else was coming to cause them harm.

Delilah stood up and saw me. "Shun?" I looked down at Paul's body, and sighed. He was gone, no point in trying to deny it. She approached me. I had always known that Delilah was a beauty, and understood why Paul loved her. Her tear stained eyes narrowed at me. "What are you doing here, Shun?"

I held her gaze and said flatly, "I was walking this way and saw what was happening." A skinny guy jumped out from behind her and got right up in my face and yelled, "And you didn't do anything to stop them! Huh! No. You know why? All of the Blood Rose Clan are nothing but cowards!"

I felt my jaw tightened. I didn't feel like dealing with this twerp. Delilah pulled him away and instructed somebody to keep him away while she talked with me.

"What were you doing going this way? Last time I checked, your Clan's home was in the opposite direction." I didn't meet her gaze, and I knew that was disrespectful to do to the partner of a Clan leader. I said flatly, "Kiba and his beasts burned it down. They killed out Caretaker in the process."

The words stung me, but I wasn't sure about her. She nodded her head. "He did the same to us, except he killed most of our Clan. This is all we have left. And I'm sure Bertha's death is difficult for you. Losing a Caretaker is like losing a parent. That's why we never chose to have one."

I remembered being told by Bertha that they didn't have one. I thought it was a stupid decision, but now I knew why. They didn't want to deal with the pain of losing somebody that would be close to them. I asked, "Where were you heading, Delilah?" She looked beyond me and said, "To the Marakura household. We caught word that they opened a shelter in there for people looking to seek safety from Kiba and his monsters. We aren't entirely sure how to get there though. It's more part of your Clan's territory. And we aren't over there enough."

I bite my lip. The right thing would be to take them there. The wouldn't last long out here if Kiba found them again. But I still wanted to leave, and if I turned around I could kiss a fresh start good-bye. I sighed. "I know where it's at, and I can escort you there."

Her eyes lit up and she gave me a sad smile. "Thank you so much. Paul would be grateful for this." Tears started forming in her eyes, and I made sure to stand between her and Paul's body so she would see. There was a low mumbling amongst their Clan. Delilah turned to face them and said, "Shun is going to take us to the Marakura residence. Stay close to one another and keep all of your eyes alert."

They nodded, but the little punk who got up in my face broke free from the Fallens that were holding him. "I'm not following him! He suddenly appeared after Kiba killed Paul! How do we not know you're working with him and going to kill the rest of us?" Delilah turned around and slapped him. He fell to the ground and held onto his face. She yelled at him, "Just because you're the new Clan leader, doesn't mean you're ready to be one!"

I blinked. _This_ was their new leader? I could have laughed, but kept my composer. Delilah turned around and said to me, "Sorry about that. Paul saw something in him and chose him as the second in command. He was going to teach him to be a Clan leader one day, but as you can see, that plan didn't turn out so well."

I nodded my head. Seemed like both Clans had made poor choices in their second in commands. I went back to picturing Mason trying to kill Alice. We started walking towards Murucho's, and Delilah made small talk with me. I knew why. She didn't want to be alone while she was grieving.

She kept telling me stories about her and Paul before the Clan Wars, and I listened. I had realized that I didn't want to be alone either during this time. She asked me, "Do you know the status of your Clan? Or are they gone like ours?"

I shook my head and said, "I don't know where they are. They weren't at our home when Kiba burned it down. For all I know though, they could all be dead." I felt sick at the thought of my Clan killed at the hands of Kiba and his monsters. I suddenly blurted out, "When I found you all confronting Kiba, I was actually leaving town. Getting away while I could."

She looked at me with surprise in her eyes, but there was still more sadness in them. "Without your Clan or anything?" I shook my head. "I didn't want to be here anymore. I had lost so much that I didn't want to keep going on here in this city."

She nodded her head and said, "I'm sure if I lost everything that you have, then I'd want to leave too. What are you going to do when you take us to the Marakura's?" I shrugged. "Not sure." She looked over her shoulder to check on the Clan behind her. I turned to look myself.

They all had their heads held low. Now pride or fight were in their eyes. Delilah startled me when she said, "It's going to take a lot of time for them to recover from this. If we ever do." We were nearing Murucho's, and stopped to stare at two of Kiba's Abominations laying dead in the streets.

One of the Fallen's from the Clan behind me ran over and checked them out. He said, "They're good as dead. Been shot in the skull." We nodded, feeling relieved that they weren't a threat. I examined the area.

This was the place that in my vision, I had seen Alice and the others cornered by those two creatures that were now dead. Did they make it? Who helped them? Delilah tugged on my shirt and said, "Let's keep walking. I feel that we're close to our destination." I nodded and we continued on our way.

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><p>well, record timing and it was fun. ^^ yay! i has a party this afternoon! -does party dance- beh. but i also has chores. -.-'' oh well, better get started! read, review, and other thing! oh! and happy holidays if i don't upload tomorrow! ~Copperpelt~<p> 


	12. Dangerous Waters

_Alice_

The downstairs portion of Murucho's place was packed with people. I looked around at the massive room. It was like a second mansion underneath the actual one. I asked, "Why did you have this built, Murucho?" He pointed to a corner for Kato to put mine and Runo's things in. "My parents had it built a while back. It can handle anything nature can throw at it; snowstorms, hurricanes, earthquakes, and so on."

I walked around and inspected the area. The majority of the underground house was one large room like the main lobby. Bathrooms and sitting areas were also connected to it, but I didn't see any bedrooms. I asked, "Where do we sleep?" Murucho pushed up his glasses. "We have emergency cots to sleep on in the main part. We couldn't add rooms because we didn't know if we'd ever use this place, and if we did we didn't know how many rooms to put. So we just invested in a ton of sleeping cots. Don't worry though. They're really comfy."

I nodded and saw some of the cots were already being put out. A person walked past me and bumped my shoulder. It was much to crowded for me, no matter how big this place was. I started seeing if I recognized any faces amongst the crowd. I spotted a few people I knew only because of Dan or Runo and some that were regulars at the café.

There was also a decent amount of Fallens there as well. Many of them were from Shun's Clan, but I didn't know their names. I had only seen them either at the fight with Tristan, or occasionally in the tenement building. With so many of Shun's Clan mates, I started to think that he might have been somewhere in the building. I then saw Ebony, Thatch, and Adam walking into the main part of the underground building.

They saw me too, and we were running to greet each other. Ebony hugged me, and when I stepped back I said, "I'm so sorry about Bertha." Their eyes got wide. Adam looked at me and said, "What about Bertha?" I blinked in surprise. "You didn't know?"

They looked at each other. Ebony said, "Know what?" They needed to know. I explained about the news report I saw, and how I didn't think it was a lightning strike. Thatch had his hand clenched into a fist, and I thought for a moment he'd punch something. Right then he reminded me so much of Shun, and I felt an ache in my chest.

Ebony told me, "I agree with you on the fire not being caused by a lightning strike. There's so much crap going on that it isn't funny anymore. Did Shun, you know, tell you what happened?"

I looked down to the floor and nodded my head. Ebony put her hand on my shoulder and said, "He didn't have any control. You know that, right?" I nodded again and said, "Sadly, I do. But I wasn't thinking when he told me, and I told him I had to think about whether I forgave him or not. Then it seemed like the world started falling apart when he left."

I saw Ebony's eyes looked sad for me. I then asked her, "Is Shun with you? I need to talk with him." The three Fallens looked at each other. Adam said, "We don't have a clue where he is. We were hoping he'd be here." I shook my head. "He isn't." We were all silent for a few seconds.

I looked around, thinking that Shun would magically appear. Julie walked up behind me and said, "Murucho needs some extra hands in distributing blankets. Could you help?" I smiled sadly at her and said, "Yeah."

_Shun_

We were standing in front of Murucho's place. I told them, "This is the place. I'm sure somebody inside will take you where you need to be." The Clan that followed me filed inside, but me and Delilah stayed outside. She asked me, "What are you going to do now?"

I hadn't given my next move much thought. I used to always be a step ahead of myself, but it seemed like whenever I took a step forward I took three back. "Maybe go and see if any of my Clan are in there. If not, I might look around the city and see if I find any of them. I don't know what I'll do after that." Delilah gave me a sad smile, and nodded her head.

"Sounds like a good plan. I'd just like to thank you again, Shun. For getting us here." I nodded my head, and watched her walk inside of Murucho's. The rain was starting up again. I followed Delilah inside, and some staff members directed me and her downstairs into another building.

It looked just like the part above, just smaller scale. People from the area were standing around and sitting on cots. My name was then called out. "Shun!" I turned and saw Adam waving his hand. Ebony and Thatch were standing next to him. Soon, any of my other Clan mates that were in the building had their heads popped up and looking for me. But there was only one person that I immediately found. Alice.

She was looking right at me. I remembered how she told me to leave so she could think. Did she still not want me around? I walked over to my Clan mates that were gathering around in a small group. Adam said to me, "Where the hell have you been!"

I ignored him and turned to face Ebony. I asked, "Is all of our Clan here?" She looked around and said, "I think so. What were you doing with Paul's Clan?" I found them in a far corner, all talking to one another. Compared to us, they were small in numbers. I said, "I found them while walking around the city. Kiba killed Paul, and took out most of their Clan."

My three closest Clan mates had wide eyes. Adam said, "Kiba did that to them?" I nodded my head. "He also burned down their home, along with ours. And killed Bertha when he did." I couldn't stand hearing the drag in my voice. I sounded like I was giving up. And I felt like I was. Ebony said softly, "So Alice was right about it not being an accident."

My Clan mates were quiet as the truth soaked in to them. I suddenly felt weak. All of the events that had happened finally caught up with me, and rammed into me. I felt like I was hanging on my a thin string that would break at any moment. "Hey! Blood Rose!"

The room fell quiet, and people backed away to reveal that the new 'leader' of the Black Iris Clan was standing there. People were looking at each other, trying to figure out what was going on. I narrowed my eyes at the little punk that had been a pain in my side since I found their Clan.

I said harshly, "What do you want?" I had learned his name from Delilah while we were walking. It was Austin. He walked up right in front of me, and was getting too close for my liking. I could feel my body readying itself to fight. This little twerp was trying to pick a fight with me.

My Clan mates were behind me, as well as most of the injured Fallens that once belonged to Paul. They were getting ready to break us up if we did start fighting. But I noticed some of the glares of hate being directed at both sides. The Clan Wars may have been over long ago, but I could see plain as day that they still didn't like each other.

I saw Delilah had separated herself from the Clan behind Austin, and Ebony had done the same thing from my side. They were both standing next to Alice, who was looking back and forth trying to figure out what to do. I turned away from her and fixed my eyes back on Austin.

He started to circle me. I wasn't intimidated by him the least bit. Ebony then jumped between us and said, "Ok! That's enough! I was hoping one of you would be the bigger person and walk away, but I guess I was wrong. Now break it up!"

Ebony backed away slowly, and I turned back to look at Austin. He flashed an arrogant grin and said, "What kind of weak leader lets somebody like her tell you what to do?" I narrowed my eyes at him and caught him in the jaw.

_Alice_

I had thought Ebony broke up the fight before it started, but the peace was short lived when Shun caught Austin in his jaw with a right hand. The Fallen that had provoked Shun, was laying on the floor holding his jaw. Blood was also pouring from his nose. Shun snapped at him, "You complain about me being a leader when you're not even worthy of being one."

Shun started to back away, and I saw he felt like he had gotten his point across. But Austin jumped up and sucker punch Shun. They looked at each other for a moment, and were both hitting each other. The Fallens I had seen glaring at one another both went after each other and they were fighting as well.

People were yelling at screaming as a brawl started in front of them. They didn't understand what was going on. Dan and the others were the same way. Confusion was plain on their faces. Some of the Fallens who were trying to break up fights got hit, and joined in.

I hunted for Ebony, but she had vanished. She may have been trapped in the fight. The woman who walked up next to me that Shun at one point said was named Delilah, just stared at the two fighting Clans. I heard her say under her breath, "I thought we were all past this."

Tears were streaking down her face as she watched the two Clan who were once at peace, fighting again. I clenched my hands into fists and yelled, "Stop!" My voice carried an echo, and the room fell silent. The two Clans stopped fighting, and were looking at me. I found Shun in the middle of it all, holding the collar of Austin's shirt. There was blood falling around them, and I saw it was coming from Austin.

There was a large tear in his shirt. Shun had slashed him open with a wing. I didn't have to see it happen to know that's what happened. Angel wings were dangerous tools for combat. It was the equivalent of a sword to them. While eyes were still on me, I spoke.

"Look at you. This is just what Kiba wants you to do. He wants you to turn on each other when you should be standing by each other. But if you can't do that, then we might as well say Kiba's won." I didn't even know that tears were going down my face. The two Clans started to separate from each other, but kept eyes on each other. Delilah stepped forward, looking very regal.

"She's right. It pains me to see us go back to how we were months ago. We need to work together in this time or else Kiba is going to succeed in what he wants." She turned to Austin. "Austin, I'm taking over position as leader." He wiggled his way out of Shun's grip, and fell to the floor holding his stomach. "What! You can't do that! Paul chose me as his second in command!"

Delilah snapped at him, "And he died before he could teach you how to be a leader." Austin held his head down in defeat. Shun kept his eyes fixed on him though. People around us were still talking to each other as they tried to figure this out. I said to Delilah, "They need to know what's going on or else we might have some problems."

She smiled at me and said, "I have it covered." I wondered what she was planning on doing to them. I didn't question her, and only nodded. Delilah spoke again. "I want both Clans to go into separate rooms to ensure that there will be no more fighting tonight. You all can return back in here when it is time to sleep. But until then, I want no contact except between Clan leaders."

Shun nodded his head. He looked so tired, and like he'd collapse in on himself at any minute. Somebody dragged off Austin to get his wound patched up, and the Clans started to walk off into different directions.

They would be held in the sitting areas that were placed in the underground building. Delilah asked me, "Can you go and check on Shun's Clan? See what kind of injury they may have sustained?" I nodded my head, and followed them into the sitting room.

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><p>i. am. sleepy. -.- merry x-mas eve! it doesn't even feel like x-mas eve today. o.o strangeness. lol. well, read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~<p> 


	13. Embrace

_Shun_

The two Clans took one last look at each other before going into different rooms like Delilah had ordered. The rooms were just big enough to accommodate my Clan. Which was a blessing on its own. Delilah had also asked Alice and Ebony to tend to any of our injuries.

I watched Alice walk around with bags of ice, and she made her way towards me. During my fight with Austin, he had gotten one good hit on my upside my head, and I could feel the bump forming. She held out a zip-lock filled with ice, and I took it and put on my head. She then walked away without saying anything to me. I put the bag of ice down and got up and ran up to her from behind.

I walked next to her at the same pace she was going. "You're still pissed at me, aren't you?" I tried to not sound aggravated about this. Alice stopped and turned around to say something, but Delilah walked into the room. "Shun, can I speak with you?" She looked at Alice and added, "You can come along too if you want." Both of us followed after Delilah into another room that was much smaller.

Two other Fallens were standing in the center of the room when we walked in. Delilah waved her hand to them and said, "This is Dusk and Dawn. They're here to help us with something." I looked the two over. They were twins. Dusk had long, dark purple hair. While Dawn had almost white hair, but with a light yellow or orange in it. _Just like dusk and dawn._

They both looked at me and Alice and waved their hands. They both said at the same time, "Bonjour!" Their French accents were thick and heavy. I bowed my head, not sure if they could speak English or not. Delilah broke the awkwardness by saying, "Dusk and Dawn are a part of my Clan and will help with our dilemma."

I hadn't noticed them when I was escorting Delilah's new Clan to Murucho's. _They may have been in the back._ I asked, "And what dilemma is it that we have other than Kiba?" Delilah pointed a long, slender finger to the door and said, "All of those people that say that little fight and heard what was said."

I hadn't even given the people any thought, but it would be trouble if we didn't do anything about them. Alice spoke up and said, "How are they going to do anything about what they saw?" Dusk and Dawn had sat down on a couch and watched the conversation go back and forth with their eyes. Dawn whispered something in French into her twin's ear, and they both giggled.

Delilah snapped at them, "This is no time for horseplay, girls." They both stopped laughing and stayed quiet. "Sorry about them. Now, for your answer, Alice. Dusk and Dawn have telepathic abilities and can change memories. They'll go and wipe everything that those people saw and heard, and replace the blanks with something else."

I sighed. _Controlling minds is really getting old._ Alice took a step forward and said, "Could you spare Dan's, Runo's, Julie's, and Murucho's memories about that?" Delilah raised an eyebrow at her, and as did I. I asked, "Why would you want to do that?" Alice turned to me and stared at me with her brown eyes.

Her mouth was set into a fine line. "Because, I can't stand keeping part of my life hidden from them. And you've been hiding it longer than me, and I'm sure you want them to know just as bad as I do."

There were times I wanted to tell Dan when we were younger, but I didn't say anything to him. Delilah broke my thoughts and said, "If you think that they can keep this to themselves, then so be it. I'll make sure Dusk and Dawn don't do anything to them." Alice thanked Delilah, and the new Black Iris Clan leader and Dusk and Dawn left the room.

I saw Alice was leaving as well, and I grabbed her wrist and stopped her. "Alice, all I ask is that you give me ten minutes." She slid her wrist from my hand and said, "Maybe later. I still have to help Ebony tend to injuries from the fight earlier." She walked out of the room, and I followed after her.

I saw Dusk and Dawn were already getting to work on people. Every time they finished up with somebody, the person went and laid down in one of the cots, and fell asleep. I wondered what they replaced their thoughts with. _At least they aren't like Sky._

My skin crawled at the mention of her name. I walked back in the room with my Clan, and saw Alice and Ebony. Adam then came barreling into the room from behind me, and caused me to almost fall forward. I snapped at him, "What the hell is your problem!" His eyes narrowed at me and he snapped back, "My problem! How about you tell everyone your problem!"

All eyes were on us; including Alice's. "What are you talking about, Adam?" My first guess was that he was pissed off because of the fight for some reason. But he had been just as much of a part of it as I had been. "You know exactly what I'm talking about! I went and spoke with one of the Black Iris Clan members, and they said you were on your way to leave town when you found them!"

There were shocked expressions passing back and forth in the room. Some were whispering to each other so low that I could only pick up things like my name. Adam continued his rant. "You went back for them, but just left us here high and dry!" I needed to shut Adam up, and fast.

Or else things wouldn't look good for me. "Adam, shut up for like 2 minutes and you'll understand what happened!" Adam was still ranting when Ebony walked up behind him and hit him in the back. "Shut it, Adam and let Shun talk." I thanked her for zipping his mouth when nobody else could. I took in a deep breath.

"I was leaving town. Ok. I won't deny that, but I wasn't thinking. I was too mixed up with Bertha's death and everything else. You guys have to believe me when I say that I'd never betray my Clan or the ones in it." Nobody said anything. Delilah walked in again and said, "Ok. Everyone, it's time to turn in. You all can go and find a cot, but please be civil."

Everyone remained quiet as they walked past me, and I could feel some of the cold stares cutting me from my own Clan. I remembered Paul saying how they disapproved of Tristan when he was still in power, and I wondered how Tristan still stayed around them when he knew they might turn on him. I didn't like that feeling. It only made me feel lower than I already did. I let out a long, exhausted sigh.

_Alice_

I found a cot near the middle of the room, and crawled under the thermal blankets and stared up at the tall ceiling. Windows were at the very top, just above ground level. I could see the black sky outside; clouds were still blocking out everything.

I rolled over on my side and thought about Adam confronting Shun. I didn't believe he was betraying his Clan, but the spot he was put in didn't ensure that he was doing the right or wrong thing. My mind started to wonder about how Dan and the others would react to my explanation of what happened earlier, why nobody else remembered it, and so on and so on.

They'd probably laugh at first, but eventually start to believe me when they saw how serious I was. I felt my eyes getting heavy, and I fell asleep. There was something shaking my shoulder, and I opened my eyes to find Shun's eyes looking down at me. Not expecting him to bet standing above me, I let out a squeal, which he quickly stopped by covering my mouth.

"Shh. I don't know how out the others are." I got his hand off of my mouth and whispered to him, "What do you want? What time is it anyway?" Shun said in a hushed voice, "One in the morning, but that's not important right now. Alice, I need to talk with you. And no brushing me off this time." I rubbed the sleep from my eyes. I wasn't too thrilled about be woken up this late at night. "Why did you pick 1 'o' clock to talk with me?"

He rolled his eyes and said, "I wanted to make sure everyone else was sound asleep." I couldn't really see his face in the dark room. I sat up and said, "Ok. Talk." He looked around at the sleeping people, and said, "Maybe somewhere else that has fewer people that aren't sleeping."

I sighed, and climbed out of my warm cot. I followed Shun into the room that we had met Dusk and Dawn in. It was just a small sitting room with two couches and a coffee table. Nothing special or fancy about it, and it looked like it would have belonged in any normal household. Shun walked around and found a small lamp, and flipped it on.

The room was dimly lit now, but at least neither of us would trip over something in the dark. Before I could say anything, Shun beat me to it. "I'm sorry if you're still ticked at me and don't want to talk to me, but I just want to speak with you." In the light, I saw his eyes were a little red, as if he had been crying earlier before everyone turned in.

"Shun, I'm not mad at you. Not anymore at least. I'm just confused cause I'm still trying to figure out how to react about this. I know you didn't have any say or memory of what happened with you and Sky, but this just isn't something that happens everyday. It's kind of hard to find the right way to handle it." He looked up at me, and I saw a glimpse of his old self.

He looked younger, and like he had when he had saved me and I was tied to him by a Bond. And for a moment, I thought I saw his real eyes. Perhaps some of our Bond was still there, and Sky hadn't gotten all of it. Shun walked up to me, and we were only a few feet apart from each other. I could feel his body heat radiating off of him and onto me. It reminded me of the first time he had kissed me.

Right before he went off to fight Tristan, and I had been wrapped in his wings. "Shun, I'm sorry that I told you to-" His lips touched mine, and cut off my words. I could feel all of his regrets, sadness, and want. His arms wrapped around me, and pulled me closer to his body.

I hugged him back, and felt my skin tingle when I brush past his arm. I had missed holding him like this. It felt just as intoxicating as it had the first time we held each other. We moved a little, and were laying down on the couch that Dusk and Dawn were sitting on.

I was surprised it had enough room for both of us. Shun nuzzled my neck and buried his face into it and said, "I've missed you so much." My skin prickled when he kissed my neck and shoulder. Our lips found each other again, and they only parted for short seconds as we both took in air. He said hoarsely, "I don't want to lose you, Alice. I don't think I'd be able to stand it if I did."

I felt my face warming up. Either from him being do close to me, or from blush. I wasn't sure which one. He was propping himself up on his elbows, and twirling one of my orange curls of hair. "Everything that's happened has just showed me how easily and quickly things can be taken away from you."

I wasn't sure if he was talking to himself or me. We had rolled over, and somehow I was now laying on him instead of how we were earlier. I laid my head down on his chest, and let the rhythm of his heartbeat and breathing lull me into a state of calm.

It seemed like right at that moment, there were no problems for either of us. The fate of the world wasn't at stake, Kiba wasn't out there hunting for us, and the Clans weren't unstable. We had no worries, but I knew better. Everything would go back to how it was the next day.

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><p>sorry for being a little late, but it is Christmas! so...MERRY CHRISTMAS! XP lol. i hope Santa treated everyone good today. ^^well, read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~<p> 


	14. Beautiful Remains

_Alice_

When I woke up, a blanket was draped over me and Shun, and we were still on the couch. His arms were wrapped around me so I wouldn't fall off and land on the floor.

He moved a little, and I saw his eyes open. I could still see the sleep trying to weigh them down, but he fought through it and smiled down at me. Our lips touched each others, but broke when the door to the room swung open and hit the wall. Shun and I both jumped and were sitting straight up on the couch.

Dan and the others were standing in the doorway. Dan covered his eyes and said, "Aw come on! I just had to walk in here when you two were making out!" Runo shook her head and said, "Calm down you idiot. They have their clothes on. God, sometimes I wonder how everyone deals with you."

I saw Shun was blushing, and I giggled. He asked smoothly, "And why did you bust into the room?" Everyone looked at Dan, and then the hole in the wall made from where the doorknob hit it. Murucho groaned when he saw it and said, "Dan…."

The short blonde was inspecting the hole in the wall when Dan said, "We want you two to explain what the hell is going on! One, what's with those dog things that are running around? Two, what was all of that talk about Clans and all of that last night? And there's a third running around, I just haven't figured it out yet."

Runo looked at him and said, "Smooth." Shun looked at me and said, "Looks like Dusk and Dawn did spare their memories. Since this was your idea, you help explain." I rolled my eyes and turned to the others. "You guys might want to sit down. It's a long story."

_Shun_

My friends were just staring at us with wide eyes. Dan shook his head and laughed. "Ok, now tell us what's really going on." Alice and I looked at each other, and she told him, "We just told you. We weren't making it up." The four of them looked at each other, then at me.

I looked around the room and said, "What?" Dan raised an eyebrow at his friend and said, "So, you're an angel?" I rolled his eyes. "Didn't you pay any attention to what we just said? I'm a _Fallen_ angel. There's a big difference." Murucho leaned forward, and looked very interested. He asked, "What exactly did you do to Fall?"

I sighed. "Let's save that for another day please and focus on what we already know." Murucho nodded his head and leaned back into the couch. Runo then faced Alice and said, "You said earlier that Shun was the reason that you're still alive from when that car hit you, because of that Bond or whatever.

You also mentioned that it broke. How did that happen?" Alice and I both looked away from them and in opposite directions. I said, "That kind of needs to stay behind closed doors. At least for now." Runo nodded and didn't bring it up anymore. Murucho stared at the ground and thought. Then he said, "So this Kiba guy has lost his mind, and is out to destroy everything?" I nodded.

"That's a short summary of it. I don't really know what he's plotting, but so far everything he's done hasn't been very good." Alice's head then popped up and she turned to face me. "I just thought of something when you brought up those dog creatures of Kiba's. Was that you that shot them the other night when they cornered us?" I looked at her, and shook my head.

"I was probably with Delilah's Clan when that happened." Somebody had helped them, and I owed them big time for shooting those things. A loud crash sounded from the main room. All of us ran out of the sitting room, and into the room where we heard the sound. People were huddled against the walls, and shaking. In the middle of the room were three of Kiba's Abominations.

They looked around the room, teeth bared and eyes sharp. I didn't see the one who might have spotted me in the alley after Paul was killed. I also both of the Clans were staring at those things. The Fallens from the Black Iris Clan looked the most terrified though. And they had every right to be since those things were with Kiba when their home was burned down and Paul was killed.

I knew they wouldn't be of much help to fight those things off. I turned to my Clan and said, "Don't just stand there! We need to get rid of them!" They looked at me, some with ice cold stares, and didn't do anything. They weren't following my orders. _This is bad._ I turned my attention back to the three monsters in the main room.

_Fine. I'm sure I can handle them on my own._ I unfolded my wings, and knew nobody except the other Fallens could see them. I slowly approached them, making sure to be ready if they struck at me. Their heads whipped around, and all of them had their eyes fixed on me. I did recognize one of them as being the other one who was with Kiba the other day.

Pure hatred flooded from his eyes, and that was all I could see. At the same time, they all lunged for me faster than I could dodge out of the way. One slammed its clawed foot down on my wing, and I could move. I could see it getting ready to rip my wing to shreds, and I braced myself for the pain.

But instead, I heard three gunshots, and the weight released from my wing. I scrambled up to my feet and saw everyone of them had a bullet hole in their skulls like the two in the streets we had come across. I looked around for the person with the gun, and found him standing up in one of the windows that the Abominations had busted through. I couldn't see who it was, until he jumped to the floor.

_Alice_

My heart was racing from watching one of those things jump Shun, but it sped up when I saw who had shot them. He jumped from the broken window and landed cat-like on the floor. I gasped when I saw who it was. Damien. He was dressed in black pants and shirt. A hand pistol was hook on each of his hips, and I knew that's what he had used to shoot them. _He has to of been the one who saved us the other night._

Damien walked past the dead 'dogs' and stopped beside Shun. Each of them faced another direction, but I could see they were glaring at each other. Before everything went downhill, Damien had warned me that Shun was a threat to me. Besides breaking our Bond, Shun hadn't caused me any pain. Damien took one last glance at Shun, then started walking in my direction. He stood in front of me and said, "Looks like I made it here just in time. Didn't I, sweetheart?"

Runo stepped between us and glared at him. She said sharply, "And who do you just think you are?" I backed her away and said, "This is Damien. He's my Guardian angel. I'll have to catch you all up on him later." I looked down and caught a better glimpse of the two hand pistols.

They were absolutely beautiful. The barrel of the guns were a shining silver with angel wings engraved on each side. The handle was a swirled mother of pearl with a metal plate of wings drilled into it. Damien saw I was looking at them and said, "Beauties, ain't they? The Higher Powers finally issued them to me. And just in time if I say so myself."

I wondered how something so beautiful, had killed those creatures that attacked Shun. I had to remind myself how dangerous they really were. I looked past Damien, and saw Shun still standing in the same place. He was rubbing his shoulder, and I knew that he was checking his wing even though I couldn't see it. I looked back at Damien and said, "Thanks for coming here when you did.

There's no telling how everything would have gone if you hadn't." I saw Delilah was directing Dusk and Dawn back towards people to wipe their memories. They'd have to do that a lot at the rate that everything was happening. Shun's Clan was already helping to get rid of the dead bodies that belonged to the creatures that Damien had shot. None of them even looked at Shun.

I could feel how badly that stung Shun. Earlier he had ordered his Clan mates to help him fight those things off, but they just stood there and didn't do anything. Even Ebony didn't do anything. Although I saw she wanted to. Maybe Adam had said something to her. The bodies were gone, and the blood had been cleaned up to the best extent.

As quickly as Shun's Clan had gotten everything cleaned up, they left and went back to where they were standing when Shun had ordered them to help. Again, they didn't say anything to him. It was obvious that they were all still pissed at Shun. Shun just stood there and looked down at the floor. Even from across the room, I could see the hurt in his eyes. He was losing his Clan.

All because of one bad choice. If he didn't find a way to regain their trust in him, he'd have to step down and Thatch would take over. I brushed past Damien and walked up to Shun. I could feel Damien's eyes on me as he made sure Shun didn't try to harm me. I said to him, "Just ignore them. They'll cool down eventually."

There were footsteps coming towards us from Delilah's side of the room. Shun and I both turned to see Austin standing there with a smug grin on his face. I could feel Shun tense up at the sight of him. "How's it feel to lose your Clan just like I lost mine."

Shun's eyes narrowed at him. "You never had a Clan." At that moment, I thought it was a good thing that Dusk and Dawn had knocked out the last person. So they wouldn't see what was about to happen. Austin held Shun's gaze, but I saw he wouldn't for much longer. He finally broke it and sucker punched Shun. I slid out of the way when Shun stumbled back. Before those two could fight again, I stepped between them and put my hand on their chests to hold them back.

I was struggling to keep them apart from each other. I yelled, "Stop! Now!" Neither seemed to hear me, and they only kept trying to get to the other's throat. Austin said over me, "What's the matter? Gunna let her hold ya back?" That little twerp behind me was trying to provoke Shun, and it wasn't helping me in the situation I was in. I looked around at both of the Clans and said, "Help me out here!"

They just stood and watched. The Black Iris Clan could care less about Austin, and Shun's Clan wasn't listening to him anyway. They were just going to let these two fight. Austin said something else, and it seemed to push Shun over the edge.

I was thrown to the side and onto the ground. I felt something pop in my wrist when I broke my fall, and I held on tightly to it to try and stop the pain. Dan and the others ran up to my side. I ignored them asking if I was ok, and looked back at Shun and Austin. I saw that both of them had already gotten bloody. Shun had Austin pinned to the floor by the throat with his foot.

Austin was wiggling around as he tried to get Shun's foot off of his throat. Ebony then ran up to them and pushed Shun off of Austin. "Ok. You've made your point. Enough. Both of you." Austin scrambled up to his feet and ran off back to his Clan mates with his tail between his legs. Damien took my wrist in his hand and looked it over. He moved it, and I bit back a cry of pain.

"Looks like a sprain." I snatched my wrist back and said, "Then don't move it!" Shun said something to Ebony and knelt down next to me. "Sorry if you got hurt. I wasn't paying much attention to anything else except Austin. Is your wrist broken?" He looked down and saw me clutching my wrist.

I shook my head and said, "Damien says it's just a sprain." He nodded his head, but didn't say anything else. Runo offered me her hand and said, "Come on, Alice. Murucho said Kato can bandage up your wrist." I nodded and took one last look at Shun before walking into another room with Runo.

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><p><em>title based off of BVB song Beautiful Remains.<em> the day after Christmas. It has that weird feeling. omg. i gots me a sock monkey and i named him Herp A. Derp. XD lol. well, read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	15. I Will Not Bow

_Alice_

Kato just finished bandaging up my wrist. "Thanks, Kato." He bowed and left the room. My wrist no longer hurt now that it was set and couldn't really move.

I looked over how the bandages were wrapped. He almost did as good of a job as Bertha. _Kato could be a Caretaker if he wanted._ Damien gently took my hand and looked at it. "You're going to have to take it easy with this sprain. We don't want it getting worse."

Runo was staring at him, and then I saw the little light bulb pop on above her head. "You're that guy from the café a few months ago! The one who Alice screamed at for following her!" Damien stood up and shrugged. "Guilty as charged."

When he stood, I saw that he had several other weapons on him other than the two hand pistols; he had several kinds of knives that weren't as ornate as the hand pistols, but still had designs on them. Ebony walked in the room with us and asked, "Is Shun in here?" We all looked around at each other, and I said, "No. Last I saw of him, he was still in the main room. Why? Is he missing?"

Ebony shrugged her shoulders. "I asked some of the staff if he left the building, and they said no. They weren't lying, so he's somewhere running around here. I just need to talk with him about the Clan." She did look worried. _I knew she wouldn't turn her back on Shun._

I asked her, "Why didn't you help Shun out when those monster attacked us earlier?" I saw her biting her bottom lip. "Adam wouldn't let me go over there. I've been spending any time I have trying to convince him that Shun didn't turn his back on us. Ha. Easier said than done with Adam. Well, I'm going to keep hunting down Shun."

I nodded my head and watched her leave. I turned back around and saw Damien was staring down at the floor and mumbling something to himself. I asked, "Everything ok?" He jumped when I spoke, then recovered by flashing his signature grin. "Yeah, sweetheart. Just doing some thinking." I nodded my head, but didn't believe him. Maybe Damien had some demons of his own.

_Shun_

I had talked the staff into letting me up onto the roof of Murucho's place. The sky was still pitch black, and I couldn't tell if it was day or night. At the rate things were going downstairs, I'd lose my Clan. _And just after I got Alice back._ I wanted to take off into the sky, despite the danger it might bring.

My wings ached to be stretched and fly, but I knew if one of my Clan mates saw they'd think I was leaving them again. And I didn't want to risk that. "There you are." I turned around to see Ebony walk up next to me. She added, "I was looking for you." I laughed humorlessly. "Glad to know that at least one of my Clan mates give two cents about me."

The wind picked up slightly, and moved mine and Ebony's hair around. She stared down below at the sidewalks. "You know, most of the Clan is still pretty peeved at you." I stuffed my hands into my pant pockets. "Really? I hadn't noticed." Ebony rolled her eyes and said, "Only you could be sarcastic when the world might be falling apart." This time I did laugh. "Guess you have a point there."

With the wind blowing her hair out of her face, I got a clear look of her eyes. I saw the hazel color clearly now. Most of the time, her dark brunette bangs hung over them. I told her, "Adam would be a lucky guy if he had you." She looked at me with a smile on her face. "You think so? Sometimes I wonder about that. There are days that he's so oblivious to me, and then there are days that I'm the center of his attention."

The wind picked up a little more. I told her, "Hey, he's been more focused on you since he quit drinking. That's a miracle on its own. Then again, things have kind of been boring." We both laughed at Adam's expense. This was nice. It felt like old times again; before Tristan, Mason, and even Alice.

I blurted out without thinking, "The only thing missing is Lucy." Ebony's smile faded, and she looked down at the ground. "Yeah. Lucy could always make a good joke about Adam. I still miss her. She was like a sister to me. I know you still miss her. Out of all of us, you were the closest to her."

I smiled sadly. "Yeah. Things just haven't been the same without her being around here." For some reason, the image of one of those creatures popped into my mind. I shook it away before I could figure out which one it was. I suddenly said, "You know what she'd say if she saw me now?"

Ebony looked at me with an eyebrow raised. I continued. "She tell me something like to quit staying huddled in the corner, get up, and not let anything put me back down." Ebony was smiling and said, "That sounds just like something she'd say. And you would listen to her and do what she said. Why should this be any different?" I stared at her as she kept talking.

"You just said the very thing that Lucy would say without her being her. The only thing you have to do is do what you said." I smiled, and knew what Ebony was getting at. I nodded and said, "You're right. I'd been too focused on what was going on to remember what I should do to keep going. Thanks.

Ebony shook her head and said, "Lucy should be the one to think. If it wasn't for her having to give you pep talks all the time, we'd all be skrewed." We both laughed again, and stared out into the dark city. I said, "I wonder where Kiba is now." Ebony added in with, "Mhmm. Me too."

We were both looking out into the forest where Tristan and I had fought. "Hey, did you see that?" Ebony was pointing out into the woods. I tried to find where she was pointing, and saw a little light flashing. "Yeah. What is that?" That little light, then exploded and turned into a pillar of darkness and shot straight up into the sky.

The purple, bluish light illuminated the sky and city. It had struck right at the barrier. Just like when Tristan had tried to break through, lightning was striking at the pillar to get it away. The wind had picked up even more, and threatened to blow us away.

There was another burst of energy coming up from the pillar, and it rammed into the barrier. I grabbed Ebony's wrist and said, "Let's get back downstairs! Now!"

_Alice_

Ebony and Shun came flying past me and the others. Dan caught up with him and said, "Whoa. Hold it there. What the hell is going on outside?" Dan pointed to one of the high windows at the illuminated sky. Shun turned and said to him, "I don't know." I heard him add in under him breath, "But it has Kiba written all over it." Shun ran off from Dan, and caught up with Ebony.

I then chased after them, and found them standing in front of Shun's Clan. Shun said to them, "You guys have to listen to me! Kiba's making a move and we need to hurry up and stop him!" They didn't say anything to him, and only looked at one another. Adam held a steady glare at Shun.

They still weren't following him. Ebony snapped at them, "Listen to him dammit! He's still our leader! No matter how pissed you all are at him!" Adam stood up and said, "And what exactly is Kiba doing?" There was a low mumbling coming from the Fallens. Shun said, "He's trying to break through the barrier!" Adam held his gaze and said, "Do you have proof it's Kiba?" Shun ran a hand through his black hair and growled. "Who else can do something like this! Think for once, Adam!"

I saw an old fire in Shun that I had seen in a while. He turned to Ebony and said, "Go tell Delilah what we saw. Go! Hurry!" She nodded her head and ran past me and out of the room. Adam said coldly, "Why should we trust you anymore?" Before I could blink, Shun had picked up Adam by the collar of his shirt and slammed against the wall.

Shun hissed to him loud enough for the others to hear, "Because I'm still your leader." He dropped Adam and turned to the others and said, "That goes for all of you! I haven't stepped down or been killed. I'm still here, and I'm still the leader. That means I still have control."

He then motioned down to Adam and added, "And if you're going to let the guy who has killed half of his brain cells tell you what to do, then I'm in the wrong Clan." I couldn't help but smile. This was the Shun I knew. His Clan looked at each other. Thatch then stood up and said, "I'm in."

Shun smiled as Thatch walked across the room and stood next to him. Serenity with her platinum blonde hair and white eyes, smiled and did the same. She said, "Same." The pinkish haired Fallen with topaz eyes, Len, followed suit and stood behind them. Soon, all of Shun's Clan had moved over by his side. Except for Adam. Shun looked down at him. Adam brushed away his dirty blonde hair and stood up.

He looked at Shun, then held out his hand. Shun looked at it, then smiled and took it. Adam said, "Count me in too." They let go of each others hands, and Adam walked over next to Thatch. Ebony then ran back into the room and said, "I told Delilah. Whoa. What happened here?"

I saw he starting to smile as she put two and two together. Shun said, "Looks kind of self explanatory. Don't ya think?" She laughed and asked, "Got room for one more?" Shun nodded and she ran up and stood next to him. I walked from where I was standing, and moved in front of Shun. I said, "I'm in this fight too."

Adam raised his fist up and said, "There's no way Kiba stands a chance against us!" There was an echo of agreements. Shun was still smiling when he snaked his arms around me and kissed me. When we parted, I smiled at him and asked, "What was that for?" He smiled and said, "Just felt like right timing, ya know?" I smiled and said, "It was."

_No One_

He walked across the barren area, and absorbed the sounds of agony of the living angels. The Messenger angel and broken through the barrier to the Realm with the power he had obtained through darkness.

The once great Realm, laid crumbling before his feet. Even the sun above him had been blocked out by the ash from fires. He smiled as he remembered how the Black Iris Clan leader told him he wouldn't succeed as he took his last breath. The Messenger angel walked around and observed the destruction his powers could cause. And that was just a portion of what he could do.

He hadn't used all of his strength on the Realm. No. He needed the Realm so he could rebuild it in his image. What he thought should be an ideal world for him and the few he decided to let live. Now the Earth on the other hand, was a different story. He had decided to release all of the power he had onto the Earth. He didn't want to take any chances of any of those pestilent Fallens or humans interfering.

Now he was faced with the crumbling building that was the temple that belonged to the Higher Powers. All of them were dead. Well, minus one. The Fallen down on Earth whose Bond he had broke by sending a Temptress. He was as of now, the rightful ruler of the Realm since none of the Higher Powers had children yet. And even if they did, the children were gone too.

_Oh well. He'll be destroyed when I take care of the Earth._ The Messenger walked up the stares and faced the chairs where the Higher Powers once sat. All but one was destroyed; the one in the middle. He walked up to it, and ran his hand along the armrest and smiled.

"Very soon this will be my throne, and I will have rebuilt the perfect world for me." His words came out as dangerous silk. Then his mouth went from a smile to a fine line. _But I will only achieve this after the Earth and its insects are gone._ He then smiled again. "Then let's not waste more time."

He put two fingers in his mouth and let out a whistle. Five large beasts appeared before him; snarling and ready to fight. He held out his arms and said, "This is the best gift darkness has given me. Now, come. I don't want to delay any longer." The Messenger angel turned around and started walking out of the temple. With his Abominations behind him.

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><p><em>chapter title based off of I Will Not Bow by Breaking Benjamin. <em>i thought it suited when Shun got his Clan back. ^^ beh. my break is coming to a close much too quickly. I dont wanna go back to school. -.-'' oh well. read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	16. Call Of War

_Shun_

My Clan was back by my side, and so was Alice. Everything was falling back together instead of apart like it had been, and I was thankful for that. We left our little room and went back to the main room. People were still knocked out cold from Dusk and Dawn's spell.

Hopefully they'd stay out just a little bit longer. Until we could defeat Kiba at least. "Hey! Get back here!" We all turned and saw somebody come running into the room with Murucho's staff at his heels. Adam smiled and yelled, "Specks!" Sure enough, I saw the dirty blonde hair and glasses running in our direction. He darted behind my Clan and said, "Tell them I'm on your side!"

I laughed and turned to the staff and said, "It's ok. He's with us." They nodded and went back upstairs. We turned and looked at Specks. He held up his hands and said, "I'm sure you're all wondering why I'm here right now. All will be revealed." Adam hit Specks in his back and said, "I can't believe you actually left your apartment! You haven't left that place in years!"

Specks glared back at him and said, "For your information, I was trying to get a hold of you guys, but all communication lines are still down. This was the only other way to reach you." I head up my hands and said, "Ok. Pause here for a minute. How did you know we were here?"

Specks pushed up his glasses and said, "I heard the Marakura's opened up a safe house or whatever and thought this would be the first place to look for you guys. Lucky guess if I say so myself." I nodded my head and said, "Ok. Continue on what you were going to tell us. Sorry I interrupted."

He nodded his head and reached into a bag that was on his back, and pulled out his laptop. Specks sat on the floor Indian-style and turned on the laptop. "I had gotten an update on Kiba's movements and what he's been up to the past few hours."

Adam chimed in by saying, "Did that thing tell you what that pillar of light was that we saw earlier?" Ebony and I had been on the roof when we saw it, the others were still down stairs and only saw a portion of it. Specks looked up at Adam seriously and said, "That pillar of light _was _Kiba. He broke the barrier. The Realm was laid to waste when he did that."

Shocked expressions filled the room. Even over there on Delilah's side they heard what was just said and were gawking at each other. Thatch shook his head and said, "I don't believe you. The barrier can't be penetrated. It's impossible." I thought I saw tears forming in Thatch's eyes.

Thatch still had family that he was very close to in the Realm, and I knew hearing that everything there was destroyed couldn't be easy for him. Serenity walked up next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. Specks sighed and said, "I'm not making this up. I wish I were, but I'm not. I also have something else that might be of use to you, Shun."

I looked at him, but didn't say anything. My mind was still trying to process that the Realm was gone. Specks continued, "All of the Higher Powers were also killed when Kiba broke through." Adam had an eyebrow raised and asked, "What does the Higher Powers being dead have to do with Shun?"

Specks glared at Adam over his glasses. "I was getting to that. Shun, you remember how we figured out you were a descendent of Lord Michael?" Adam jumped back in the conversation, "What! You're one of the Seven Lord's descendents and didn't tell us!"

I looked at him and said flatly, "I was, but then all the stuff with Mason happened and then Kiba and it kind of slipped my mind." Specks growled and said, "Can I please continue here? Thanks. Dang, where was I? Oh, yeah. Shun, with the Higher Powers being gone, despite you being a Fallen, you're actually the rightful ruler of the Realm. None of them had any children, so there's nobody left to take their places."

Ebony stepped through Adam and Thatch and said, "But Kiba's planning to make himself the ruler of the Realm, right? If that's true, then Shun just had a target stuck on his back." Specks nodded his head and typed on his laptop, then shut it. Ebony did have a point.

Kiba knew plain well that I was a descendent to Lord Michael, whether he'd say it or not. And Kiba couldn't rule unless all those in power or next in line were gone. Specks stood up, and then looked over and saw Damien sitting down on a chair.

Damien had his hands folded in front of him, and he was staring down at them. He then glanced up at Specks, then over at me and back at his hands. I heard Adam say behind me, "What's been up with him?" Specks pushed up his glasses and said, "Well, I've overstayed my welcome. I came here to give you the news I received, and I've done just that. Now I must go. Besides, my apartment beckons to me."

I told him, "Be careful out there. None of us can afford if something happens to you." Specks nodded and stuffed his laptop back into his bag and started to walk back upstairs. I heard him yelled at a staff member, "I told you people I was just visiting!"

Adam rolled his eyes and walked off somewhere else. Thatch had seemed to of calmed down since Serenity was talking with him. I hoped that the news about the Realm didn't affect him when we fought Kiba. I walked over to the other side of the room and found Delilah.

I said, "When Kiba shows up, could you get Dusk and Dawn to make sure all of these people stay unconscious? We can't afford a panic." She held her head high and smiled. "Of course. That's no problem at all." I added in, "Also, could you keep your Clan and mine down here in case we need back-up? I know your Clan is still hurting from earlier, and that they're aren't fit to fight."

She looked at me and said, "But what about your Clan? Why are you keeping them out of this fight? They're well enough to fight." I smiled and said, "We're planning on tricking Kiba. When he shows up, I'm going to have Adam, Thatch, Ebony, and Alice with me. And possibly Damien. I'm just hoping when Kiba sees our small numbers, he'll get too arrogant and then I can call out the rest of my Clan and catch him off guard."

Delilah smiled and said, "That sounds like an exceptional plan. I'll keep your Clan under here too until the time when you need them." I thanked her and started to walk back to my Clan. "Shun, wait." I stopped and turned to face Delilah. "Yes?" She bowed her head and told me, "It's good to have you back." I smiled. "It's good to be back."

_Alice_

Shun was over on the other side of the room and talking with Delilah. I took this as a chance to speak with Damien and see what was going on with him. I walked over to where he was sitting and asked, "Is it ok if I sit next to you?" I was looking at the chair next to him. "Sure."

I thanked him and took the seat. "Damien, what's been up with you? The other day you looked pumped and ready to fight Kiba. Now you don't look like how Shun was a few weeks ago." Damien then blurted out, "I'm rethinking about fighting with you guys against Kiba."

I was taken aback by what he had said. "But, why?" He held a steady gaze at the floor and said, "It's just. I don't know. I'll still be there to keep you safe, but I'm not fighting Kiba. That's my final decision." I only stared at him. How could he not want to fight Kiba after everything that's happened? I decided to change the subject. "Did you hear Specks earlier? About the Realm?"

Damien nodded his head and said, "Yeah. I can't believe Kiba actually did that." I stood up and told him flatly, "Well, I can't force you into a fight. I'll respect your choice to stay out of this, but there's no guarantee that the others will. You know, they were kind of counting on you being there to help them."

Damien nodded his head, and I walked away. Shun was walking back towards his Clan, and I started to head in his direction. He saw me and smiled, "Hey, Alice." That smile faded when he saw me closer. "What's wrong?" We walked back to his Clan side by side.

I told him, "Damien isn't going to help us with the fight against Kiba." Shun stopped dead in his tracks and looked at me. "What? Why isn't he going to fight with us? Damien could be the thing that decides whether we win or not."

I shook my head and said, "Damien is refusing to fight with us. But he did say that he'd be there to keep me safe." Shun sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Ok. We can fight without Damien. Him dropping out doesn't affect our plans when we go up against Kiba."

_Shun_

I couldn't let Damien's last second choice throw me off of my game. Not at this crucial point. _If he wants to drop out, then so be it._ I walked back up to my Clan and said, "Ok. This is what we're going to do." I went over with what I had told Delilah about most of them staying behind to trick Kiba.

They seemed to accept the plan, and I let out a sigh of relief. My biggest worry about the plan was that my Clan mates would get pissed because I wanted them to stand behind the lines. I let my Clan mates talk amongst themselves about our plan while I walked over to Damien.

I asked sternly, "Why did you drop out now?" He looked up at me and said, "I just can't face Kiba." I glared down at me, and he returned it back. Anybody with common sense knew that the two of us got along about as well as I did with Austin.

The only thing that had kept me from punching him a long time ago, was the fact that he had saved Alice and was her Guardian angel. I asked him harshly, "Why can't you face Kiba? Are you scared? Is that it?" He stood up and was looking right at me. I caught my Clan mates out of the corner of my eye.

They were looking at us, and looked ready to break up a fight if one broke out. Damien said, "I'm not scared of Kiba. I just don't want to fight him. My job isn't to fight him, it's to keep Alice safe. I lost sight of that." I growled and snapped, "Did you really lose sight of it? Or did you ever have sight of it?"

I could see him tensing up. He wasn't going to fight me, and I wasn't going to fight him. I just wanted to get him angry enough to talk and give me the real reason why he wouldn't fight everyone's common enemy. He narrowed his eyes at me and said, "I'm not telling you anything. So you can give up now."

I held his gaze for a few more seconds before stalking off back to my Clan. I was readying myself for questions, when a flash of light lit up the sky and room right outside of Murucho's place. _Kiba._ Delilah ran over to us and said, "Should I round everyone up?"

I nodded my head and said over the noise, "Everyone go with Delilah. Thatch, Adam, Ebony, and Alice, come with me." Delilah yelled to us, "Good luck! We're all counting on you guys." I took one last glance over at Damien. He was still sitting in his chair and looking at the floor. I said, "Let's go."

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><p>another chapter down. and i think about two more to go. this chapter wasnt really going to exist, but i didnt want to end the story on an odd number of chapters. i hate doing that. -.- the fight should be next, and boy oh boy will it be amazing. some things will be explained; like why Damien was acting weird and stuff like that. and a few other twists and surprises will be thrown in as well. <strong>also, regarding the addition <em>The Puppetmaster<em>**, i have a basis set up for it. mainly, it's about Kiba's story from when he came to Earth and how he went totally insane. keep an eye out for it because it should be up the day after i finish this one. (you know how i'm a workaholic) lol. ^^ well, read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	17. When We Stand Together

_Alice_

I was already shaking with adrenaline and anticipation as we ran outside to finally face off against Kiba. I wasn't sure what I would do out there, but I did know that I wasn't about to sit this one out. Too much of my life, and Shun's, had been uprooted because of Kiba.

I was just as much a part of this as the rest of the Fallens were. The only ones going out to confront Kiba, was me, Shun, Ebony, Adam, and Thatch. We finally made it through the maze in Murucho's mansion, and ran out of the front door. I was getting more and more anxious every minute.

I just wanted to get this over with and go back to a somewhat normal life. We all walked out into the street in front of Murucho's. It was deathly still and quiet except for a strong wind blowing. And that wouldn't make it easy for any of the Fallens to fly in. The sky was still pitch black.

There was also a mist hanging in the air, and made it difficult to see. I heard Shun hiss, "Where is he?" We were all growing frantic and might have been close to panicking. We couldn't find him. Had Kiba really shown up to fight us? Or did he play a trick on us to lead us into a trap.

As soon as my doubt started, I saw a figure walking towards us through the mist. When he was at least 10 feet from us, we saw him. Kiba. He had changed from the last time I had seen him, and he actually scared me. Darkness surrounded his body, and made him look more menacing than he really was. I glanced at Shun and saw he was tensed up.

Thatch then yelled out, "How could you destroy the Realm! I had family there that cared about me! I'll make you pay!" Thatch charged at Kiba. Shun yelled out, "Thatch! Get back here!" Kiba only smirked at the Fallen that was running at him. He then flung his hand out into the air, and Thatch was knocked back and slammed into the wall of Murucho's mansion behind us. One of the windows shattered from the impact.

We all stood there, gawking at what had just happened. Ebony said in a shocked tone, "H-he. He just knocked away Thatch like there was nothing there." Kiba laughed. "Just like swatting flies." His laugh made my skin crawl. I couldn't take my gaze from Thatch. Shun then yelled to me, "Alice! Check on Thatch!"

I nodded. Why wasn't Kiba attacking us though? We were too focused on Thatch, and that would give him a perfect chance to kill us all. I then thought of it. _He wants to strike fear into us by showing us what he did to Thatch._ I made it over to Thatch, and knelt down beside him.

There were no wounds on him other than scratches from where he hit the wall. I leaned closer to him and heard his breathing. It was slow, but steady. Almost like he was sleeping.

I yelled back, "He's alive!" That's all I could tell them though. I looked back at him. He looked too still and lifeless to be alive though. The only thing that reassured me he was still on this Earth was his breathing. _I wish Bertha was here._ Shun then said to me, "Alice, stay over there with Thatch!"

I knew what he was trying to say. He didn't want me in the fight now that he saw how powerful Kiba was. I didn't blame him either. As of then, I didn't want to be in the fight, but it still concerned me, and I was going to find a way to help out.

_Shun_

I had underestimated how powerful Kiba might have been, and now Thatch was paying for it. Kiba looked at my small group and threw his head back and laughed. "This is all the welcoming party I'm going to get? I was hoping to crush all of the Clans. So, where are you hiding them?" I tensed up. "Like I'd ever tell you." He smiled and said, "I see you're recovering from when I sent Sky for you."

My eyes widened, and I saw Alice's did the same. I growled. "_You _sent her!" I felt my anger boiling in me. _I should have known._ I said flatly, "Then I guess you also killed her." His grin only got wider. Adam and Ebony were standing close to each other, but were just as alert and tense as I was.

I snapped at them, "We need to be fighting him and quit letting him into our heads!" They snapped out of it, and Adam nodded his head. He then reluctantly stepped away from Ebony. Kiba only laughed. "You actually think you can defeat me? It's never going to happen. I've gone over my plans and every possible outcome, and they will not fail me this time. No matter what you throw at me. I'll only throw it back."

I saw out of the corner of my eyes that Thatch was starting to stir. We could desperately use him, but he might not be fit after that hit he took from Kiba. Alice was trying to get him to lay back down. Kiba then said, "Who will be my first victim?" _We need to stick with our plan._

I stepped forward and said, "Me." Kiba looked intrigued now. "I thought that you'd send one of them after me, and save yourself for last. But I also planned this scenario out, and I won in it too. Either way, you're going to die." I couldn't let him strike fear into me, even though he was succeeding at it. "Shun!"

I turned to Adam, who threw me the angel wing sword that I had swiped from Tristan's Clan before the final fight. I had completely forgotten about it. I silently thanked Adam, and turned back to Kiba. My heart threatened to jump from my chest. I faced Kiba with the sword ready for if he struck first, but he only watched me with amusement in his eyes.

He looked to confident that he was going to win. _Maybe his assumption was right. Maybe he is going to kill me, and he knows it._ He grinned and said, "What's the matter? Why don't you try and attack me? Are you scared?" _Yes, but I'm not going to let that stop me._ I charged at him just as Thatch had, and I heard something cut the air like a whip.

Before I knew anything, I was off of the ground and my throat was being constricted. Kiba was choking me just as he had done to Paul. I could feel the dark rope burning me too. I heard somebody call out my name, but everything was too fuzzy for me to register.

I tried to kick my way out, and pry the dark rope from my neck, but it only seemed to get tighter and tighter. Kiba was laughing, and I could feel his cold, dead stare on me. "I told you….I'm going to win this, and nobody will stop me from making my new world." My body had started to stop fighting to free itself.

I was still struggling slightly, but was growing too weak to do anything. I could feel my life slowly slipping away from me, and I was close to facing the same fate as Paul. I glanced down once more and saw Ebony and Adam laid out on the ground with blood coming from their heads.

When had Kiba attacked them? I felt my eyes starting to close, and was just about to go under when I dropped to the asphalt of the street. I took in a deep breath, and just laid there until I could see straight. I heard Kiba cry out in agony, and I saw him out of the corner of my eye.

The dark rope that was around my neck had been severed, and seemed to cause him pain. He was cursing through his cries, but I knew it would be short-lived. Once the pain subsided, he's be right back at us. But who had saved me? I looked around and saw Alice still next to Thatch, and tears were going down her eyes.

She hadn't been the one to save me, and neither had been Adam or Ebony since they were both still laid out not far from me. My body started to recover from its near death experience, and I started to gain back my strength. I forced myself onto my hands and knees. My arms were shaking under my weight. A hand then was held out to me. I stared at it, then followed the arm up to find the face.

It was Austin. In his other hand, was the sword I dropped when Kiba started to strangle me. Austin had been the one that cut the rope and saved me. I took his hand, and he pulled me up to my feet. I wavered slightly, but quickly regained my balance. When I was firm on my feet, I looked at him.

Kiba was still crying out in pain. That rope had apparently been a part of him. I said shakily, "You helped me. Why?" He watched Kiba and said, "Let's just say I've seen the light when you made a point back in the building. And you also looked like you needed a hand."

I brought my hand up to my throat and could still feel where the rope had been around my neck. "Thanks. I mean it." He smiled, and I saw him tense up. I looked over at Kiba. He had recovered, and looked pissed.

_Alice_

When Kiba had got a hold of Shun's throat, I was crying hysterically. Ebony and Adam had tried to help him, but they just got slapped out of the way like Thatch. I was still sitting by Thatch, who had passed out again, and watched in horror as Shun was being choked to death.

There wasn't anything I could have done to help. I had seen what Kiba could do to the Fallens, and knew it would be much worse if I took one of those hits. Shun was stopping his struggle against Kiba, and knew that this might be over and Kiba would win. I was crying harder than before at the thought of losing Shun. All of a sudden, somebody came running out of the building, and scooped up the sword Shun dropped, and cut into the rope that was strangling Shun.

I watched as Shun fell and hit the ground, and heard Kiba screaming and cursing out loud. I was too focused on seeing Shun moving that whoever had saved him. _He's still alive. He's still alive._ I then looked to see who had cut Shun free, and found Austin standing there with the sword. I couldn't believe that Austin helped Shun. At least, not after all the bad blood between them. I didn't care though.

Shun was alive, and we were still in this fight. I watched Austin help Shun to his feet, and then Kiba regained himself from the pain. I saw anger glowing in Kiba's eyes. The wind around Kiba then picked up, and he flung his hand out at Austin and Shun just as he did with the others.

They both slid back, but didn't get knocked off of their feet. Although it looked like the wind got knocked out of them. Kiba growled and looked at Austin. "You'll pay for your meddling." I saw Kiba's wings unfold, when I shouldn't have. I had no Bond, so I shouldn't be able to see them.

Thatch then coughed next to me and said, "You….See his wings?" I nodded. "It's….Because the barrier…..Is destroyed…You should be able…..To see all of our wings." I looked at Thatch's eyes. They were brown again, and had slitted pupils. I hadn't even noticed that Shun's were back to gold.

I could see them again. I turned my attention back to Shun and Austin. Kiba was trying to get to Austin, but Shun stood in his way. Kiba scowled and slapped Shun out of the way with his wing. I heard Shun his the ground, and saw him moving still. Kiba now had Austin cornered.

A dark mist formed in Kiba's hand, and a dagger materialized. He said, "This is what happens to those who stand in my way." Austin fell backwards and onto the ground. I saw him bracing himself for the blade to hit him. Kiba drew the dagger back, and readied it to kill Austin.

A gunshot then sounded, and I saw a bullet hit the ground next to Kiba's foot. Kiba jumped back to avoid behind shot, and another shot sounded and knocked the dagger from his hand. Kiba clutched his hand, and I saw blood dripping from it.

_The shot must have grazed him._ I had a good idea who shot at Kiba, and I smiled then he dropped down from the top of Murucho's place. I said under my breath, "Damien. Just in time."

_Alice_

Kiba looked at Damien with disgust, and hatred while still clutching his hand. Austin scrambled out away from Kiba. I saw a dark aura around Kiba grow bigger at the sight of Damien. He said through clenched teeth, "You. Why must it be _you._" I shuddered at the venom in Kiba's voice.

There was a big difference in how he talked to Damien, from how he spoke to Shun. When he talked with Shun, he had an amusing tone. But with Damien. Let's just say, if words could kill, we'd all be dead. Kiba's eye glowed red, but they still held their black, soulless color. Damien said to him calmly, "Stop this. Now, Kiba. There's no reason for you to do this. Nobody here wants to fight you."

Kiba's eyes widened and he swung a fist at Damien. Damien jumped back and out of the way. Kiba hissed at him, "But I do want to fight! I didn't give myself into darkness for nothing! I'm going to make those who have caused pain, feel it! Starting with you!" Damien ducked another blindly thrown punch from Kiba.

"But Kiba, don't you see? You making those pay for pain they've caused, and you're doing nothing more than turning into the very thing you're fighting against!" The dark aura around Kiba grew stronger with every word Damien spoke. "Kiba, what have they done to you? They've done nothing."

Kiba snapped at Damien, "They interfered with my plans! I would have made my new world when I tainted Tristan's mind, but _they_ hadn't stopped my plan!" Kiba swung blindly again, and Damien dodged it without a problem. It was like he knew all of Kiba's moves. Damien asked him coldly, "What would Father think if he saw you now?"

Kiba's hate towards Damien grew stronger. Kiba hissed, "You're no brother of mine, Damien. You have never been one to me!" We all stared in shock. Kiba and Damien were brothers. _Damien didn't want to fight his brother. That's why he opted out!_ I couldn't believe it. But Damien was a Half-breed, and Kiba wasn't. That would have to mean they had different mothers if they had the same father.

Damien said to Kiba, "You may not consider me your brother, but I consider you mine. Whether you like it or not. Father was happy when both of us were born, and you know it." Kiba growled and yelled, "No! He was not proud when both of us were born! I couldn't ever make Father happy and you know it! He had more pride in you when you were born from that human! Father gave up his life in the Realm and left my mother because of you!"

This time, Kiba did land a hit on Damien, and Damien fell back onto the ground. Kiba grinned evilly, and said, "You may not want to fight me, but that doesn't mean I won't fight you. And kill you." I still couldn't believe all of this. My Guardian angel was related to this psychopath that almost killed Shun.

Shun and Austin stared in shock, just like I was. Ebony and Adam, who had woken up, were doing the same. Nobody jumped in between the two fighting brothers. It was something between them, and shouldn't be interfered with. Kiba slammed his foot down on Damien's throat, and pinned him to the ground just like Shun had done to Austin. Except Kiba was trying to kill. Damien tried to push Kiba's foot off of him. Kiba bent over, still keeping his foot on Damien's throat, and looked him dead in the eyes.

"I'll kill you personally you little Half-breed reject!" Kiba put more force onto Damien's throat. I hadn't noticed that I was crying again. Damien moved around some, and was able to kick Kiba off of him. Kiba fell onto his back, but went into a roll and jumped back up on his feet. Damien was still struggling to get up. Little orbs of purplish, black lights started to form around Kiba. "It's over for you, brother."

The orbs then shot at Damien as arrows, and he was knocked back and stayed on the ground and didn't move. I saw he was badly bleeding where the arrows sliced him. "Damien!" I quickly covered my mouth, and started to shake when Kiba turned his attention to me. It was like having a snake look at me, and trying to choose where to strike. Shun yelled at him, "Hey! Leave her out of this!"

He only glanced at Shun, then turned his attention to Damien's still body. He said, "I can't believe you gave up what little Messenger angel status you had, to become a Guardian angel. Then again, there's no place in my world for Half-breeds." Kiba then looked at me, then to Shun.

He said, "What a shame, that the descendent of Lord Michael, loves a human. I honestly thought you'd end up with _Lucy,_" He purred and hissed her name. I saw Shun tense up, and his hands were clenched into fists. Damien forced himself up to his elbows, and said, "If I remember correctly, Kiba. You loved a human too."

Kiba's eyes flashed a hatred so strong that I felt it. "Shut up!" He waved out his hand, and knocked Damien back down. Kiba growled and said, "I've had enough of this!" He whistled, and five of his Abominations appeared.

They stood behind him, all snarling. He said, "I've been beating around the bush too long. It's time I end this and take my place as Lord." The five monsters started to walk around Kiba, and had their eyes fixed on Shun.

_Shun_

Those things were coming my way, but I didn't do anything about it. My mind was still trying to process the confrontation with Damien and Kiba. Was that why I didn't trust Damien? Because he was related to Kiba? The five Abominations stood before me.

I couldn't fight them. I had tried to take on three by myself, in top condition, and almost got my wings ripped out. Damien had been the one to kill them, and I was pretty sure Damien wasn't about to help. Not with the beating Kiba gave him. Kiba grinned at me and said, "How's it feel to know that your old Clan mates are going to be the ones to kill you?"

My world froze. "What?" He said smoothly, "Look at their eyes. Do you recognize them?" My heart was pounding now. I looked at the eyes. I saw them. Fiona, Blakely, Nathan, and even Mason's. But one just stopped me completely. It had Lucy's eyes. I heard Ebony say behind me, "Oh god. How?"

I felt like my legs were about to give from under me. I snapped, "What have you done to them!" My old Clan mates, had been turned into these killing monsters for Kiba. Kiba then said smoothly, "I made a deal with darkness. I needed minions, but it needed a vessel. And what better vessel than your fallen comrades? They have no emotions, no memory of any of you, and no soul. They are strictly killing machines at my disposal."

I felt tears stinging my eyes. I couldn't look away from what once was Lucy. The walls around me seemed to start to come down. There was no way I was about to fight her, but she wouldn't care. She'd kill me without a second thought. 'Lucy' stepped forward and towards me, then turned around and faced Kiba.

She was guarding me. Kiba looked surprised. "What are you doing? You're supposed to kill him!" I then realized, that Lucy had been the one outside of my room when Kiba set the building on fire. She knew I was in there, and lied. If she hadn't done that, then I would have been dead long ago. And she had also seen me in the alley when Kiba killed Paul. Kiba snapped his fingers and said, "Turn back around and kill him! Remember whose side you're on!"

Lucy didn't budge, and only kept her eyes fixed on Kiba. I smiled and said, "Looks like you got your order to darkness wrong. Lucy is still in there, and she's on our side." Lucy charged at the other Abominations, and they began to fight each other. Kiba stared at them, then back at me. I asked, "So, was this part of your plan?" He glared at me, and swung out his hand to hit me.

I dropped to the ground, and it went right over me. "Now!" Ebony, Adam, and Austin ran up to my side. We all went at him at once, and I caught him one good time with my wing. But he shook us off, and knocked us off with a pulse of dark power. "You're still no match for me!" There was another gunshot, and I saw blood shoot out from Kiba's shoulder.

He cried out, and we all turned and saw Damien standing on his feet. He wobbled back and forth, but he held a steady gaze at Kiba. He said, "This is between me and him. You guys can have him if he kills me." We stepped back, and watched Damien limp his way up to Kiba.

Blood covered every inch of Damien from where Kiba had attacked him. They both looked at each other for a few seconds. Kiba then threw out his hand and shot an orb of darkness like the one Mason had struck me with. Damien blocked it with his wing, and shot another round at Kiba. He caught him in the other shoulder. Now both of Kiba's shoulders had bullet holes in them.

I could see it pained Kiba to move them, so Damien had a slight advantage. That was the last hit Damien got on him though. Kiba knocked his brother down once more, and was about to finish him off. I heard Alice crying behind me. I had to do something, but what? Then, Lucy tackled Kiba, and knocked him off of Damien.

She was bloody and scratched up, but the rest of the Abominations were dead. The next events happened so quickly. Kiba had shot Lucy with darkness, at the same time that Damien shot Kiba. All of us stood there and tried to figure out what had happened. We saw Kiba laying on the ground, not moving or breathing. Blood came from a wound in his chest, and we all knew he was dead.

I turned and looked at the dead Abominations. A dark mist was rising from them, and where they once laid, were now all of my Clan mates. They were dead though. I then thought of Lucy. I saw the same thing had happened to her. She looked just like she did the day she died. _Thank you. For everything._ I didn't want to leave her, but as the spell of Kiba's darkness was wearing off they would soon vanish into thin air. I saw Ebony, Adam, Thatch, Alice, and Austin were all gathered around Damien.

I walked over to them and asked, "How bad are his injuries?" Ebony looked up at me and said, "Well, I'm no Bertha, but he'll be lucky to make it through an entire day." Alice was next to me, and crying. I wrapped my arm around her shoulder, and brought her close to me. Ebony then said, "We can try and patch him up, but." I knew what she was saying. Without Bertha, we were skrewed. And so was Damien. The weight of everything then settled in on me, and I felt tears forming in my eyes. It was all over.

We won. Kiba was gone. Alice saw I was crying as well, and she held on tighter to me. I said in a shaky voice, "Let's get him inside and do what we can." Adam and Austin helped pick Damien up, and Ebony help get Thatch to his feet. Before we went inside, the dark sky began to lighten, and sunshine shone through the broken parts of the barrier.

The world was out of its darkness now. We all stood there for a moment, and marveled seeing the sun. The two Clans had come outside and were looking up at the sky too.

For many of us, we hadn't seen the sun in years. For me, it was the first time. While the others went back inside to tend to their wounds, I stayed out there and looked at the sun and sky. Then the thought crossed my mind, _What now?_

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><p><em>chapter title based off the song <strong>When We Stand Together<strong> by_**_Nickelback_**. i had way too much fun writing this chapter, and it is by far the longest i have ever written. ^^i recomend looking up this song. it's really good and i can so see this playing during several parts during the fight.

i had ever part of this planned out since i started this story, so it came super naturally. i betcha none of you were expecting Damien and Kiba to be brothers. ^^ it just suddenly came to me one day since both have Messenger angel blood in them, so i decided to give them the same father.

and i bet you all thought Alice was the one who helped Shun when Kiba was choking him. nope. it was Austin. twist! i had to go back over _Looking For Angels_ to remember who died in the story so i could make them Abominations. i bet you guys didnt see that one coming either.

if you didnt notice, i added in spoilers for Kiba's story _The Puppetmaster_, so if you read it then the conversation and history between Damien and Kiba will make more sense. i truly enjoyed writing this chapter, and will enjoy writing the final chapter and then working on the addition.

i hope you all enjoyed reading the fight! i also have a poll up concerning the trilogy. it's just to see which one of the stories is your fav from these. ^^ well, read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	18. This Is Where I Belong

_Alice_

When I walked back inside, I saw Dusk and Dawn waking people up with Delilah standing behind them and saying they could all go home. I heard her say, "The rain has stopped and the skies are clear. You can all leave." I smiled. Everything was returning back to normal so quickly with Kiba's reign of terror at an end.

I ran to catch up with Adam and Austin, who had carried Damien inside to be treated from the wounds Kiba gave him. Out of all of us, Damien sustained the most severe injuries. I found the room they had put him in, and saw everyone was gathered around him. Kato was treating his wounds to his best extent. I could only hope that they were good enough to help Damien heal.

During the fight, we all discovered that Damien and Kiba were brothers. That was probably the biggest shocker to me out of all of this. Next to the Abominations being Shun's old Clan mates that had died during the fight with Tristan, and including Mason. I knew that I couldn't have been easy for Shun to face his old friends, and he got lucky that Lucy was still there, or else we all might not be standing here right now.

Kato cut the last bandage on Damien, and walked out of the room. I pushed my way through the crowd that formed around him. Damien was either sleeping or unconscious. Ebony said, "Come on. Let's give him some time to rest and come back later." I was the last to leave.

And just as I was about to turn around and leave the room, I hear, "Hiya, sweetheart." I stopped and turned around to see Damien's eyes open slightly, and a cocky grin on his face. I was about to yell for the others to come back, and tell them he was awake. He stopped me by saying, "No. Now don't go doing that, sweetheart. I wasn't faking being out for nothing." I stared at him and said, "You weren't sleeping when they were in here?"

He shook his head and said, "I don't like a lot of company when I have to lick my wounds." I rolled my eyes and asked, "Do you want me to go too?" He shook his head and said, "I'll give you the special privilege to be in my presence, sweetheart." I would have hit him in the arm, if it hadn't been under no telling how many bandages. I said sarcastically, "Sounds like an honor."

Damien looked at me and said, "Leave the sarcasm to me, sweetheart. Ow!" He clutched his side and said, "Well, that one hurt." I smiled and said, "Then don't talk so much." He cut me another look, and it made me laugh. Damien then asked me, "So, where's Shun?" I thought for a moment. "The last place I saw him was outside when we carried you in here. I don't know if he came back inside or not."

Damien nodded his head. Almost a month ago, Damien said that Shun was a threat to me and that he had seen darkness surrounding him. I asked, "So, are you still thinking Shun's a threat?" Damien looked up at me, then at the ceiling as he thought.

He then sighed and said, "I'm always going to think he's a threat until I can disprove it. I hate to say it, but yeah. I do think he's still a threat. Unless I can see him and see if he's changed from the last time I saw him and warned you." I looked at him and said confidently, "I think he has changed since then. And in a good way." Damien cocked an eyebrow at me and said, "I'll be the judge of that. So, what are you going to do when he leaves?"

I stopped, and looked at him. "Leave? What are you talking about?" Damien looked surprised that I didn't know what he was talking about. He said, "Yeah, leave. Shun's the one in power of the Realm now." That had completely slipped my mind. I felt an ache in my chest at the thought of Shun leaving.

Damien sighed and said, "Go find him and talk about it. My feelings won't get hurt if you leave the room, sweetheart." I nodded my head, unable to say anything because of the possibility of losing Shun. We had just fought through so much to be together, and I didn't want that to be ripped away from me so soon after we won that right. I closed the door to Damien's room behind me, and started down the halls looking for Shun.

_Shun\_

After the others walked inside, and the people walked out, I was still looking up at the sky and at the sun. It was so warm. There was a weak and cool wind blowing. My gaze then fell on the destroyed barrier that was letting this light through.

I looked around to make sure nobody was watching, and unfolded my wings. I then took off into the sky, and went through one of the openings in the barrier. I was back in the Realm now. As I looked around, the damaged buildings and everything looked familiar to me. I then recognized it. This was the city I saw in one vision that had been demolished. I walked around. Despite the sun having everything lit up, it still felt ominous. "Hey, what's a Fallen doing up here?" I froze and turned around to see three Holy angels standing behind me.

They were beat up, and seemed to be struggling to hold themselves up. One of them said, "Just cause the barrier is destroyed doesn't mean that Fallens are welcomed back." I flinched at the words. I knew the hate for the Fallens was bad, but I didn't think it was like this.

They obviously didn't know that I was related to Lord Michael. To them, I was just another Fallen. I said flatly, "I was just looking around at what Kiba did. Is that so bad?" One of them stared at me crossly, and I saw hatred in his eyes.

He said, "Yes it is. So what if Kiba did this? We'll just rebuild it all again and repair the barrier to keep your kind out. Just like before. Nothing will change." I held a steady gaze back at him and asked, "And what are you going to do for a leader? All of the Higher Powers are dead."

A smaller Holy angel asked, "And how do you know that?" I straightened up and said smartly, "I know a guy." They looked at each other. I knew that they wouldn't do something stupid like try and attack me. Not in their state. The one that had been giving me issues since I came up here, said, "We'll find somebody else to take over. Simple as that." I retorted back and said, "But only blood descendents of the Seven Lords can rule the Realm."

He let out a short and humorless laugh. "As you know, there are no blood descendents left." I seriously doubted they'd believe that I was a blood descendent, but it was worth a shot. I said flatly, "There's me." They looked at each other and then laughed. "You really think we're stupid enough to believe that a Fallen is the descendent of one of the Lords? Even if you were, you're a _Fallen._ Do you seriously think anyone here would follow you?"

He hissed his words out with so much hate that I could see it. I saw right then that if I did rule up in the Realm, it wouldn't be easy for me. _This is just what the Higher Powers that made me Fall planned to happen. They made it impossible for me to come back._ One of them got right up next to my face and asked, "If you are a blood descendent, then from which Lord?"

My body tensed up as he got too close for my personal preference. I said, "Lord Michael." They laughed again. The smaller Holy angel said, "Ha! You've been down on Earth far to long. Lord Michael didn't have any kids. Jeez, you must have hit your head when you Fell. But no, really. Who were your parents though?"

I searched my brain for the memory of that dream I had after we defeated Mason, and I had gone back to the Realm and watched what happened to me unfold. I remembered the names. "Blythe and Isaiah." They froze. No laughter came from them. Only shocked expressions. One of them asked, "Blythe and Isaiah? As in the ones who led the rebellion?" I nodded my head.

Another one of the Holy angels said, "That would mean he was that kid that Fell on innocence, right?" I nodded my head and said, "That's right. And after that, the Higher Powers erased all of our past history. Including the part showing Lord Michael's descendents."

The smaller Holy angel looked at me and said, "Now that you mention it, he does look a lot like Michael." He ended up earning a hand slapped against the back of his head by one of his friends. He said, "Shut it! This Fallen can't be a descendent of Lord Michael."

He then turned to me and said, "And if you are, good luck on getting the others here in the Realm to follow you. Now, leave." The three Holy angels turned around and started to walk away. _I needed to get back down to Alice anyway._

_Alice_

I walked outside just in time to see Shun landing in front of Murucho's place. I ran up to him and said, "There you are! I've looked everywhere for you! Where'd you run off to this time?" He looked up at the sky and said, "Just went and checked out the Realm. Not much has changed there."

His voice sounded annoyed. Shun then asked me, "How's Damien holding up?" I told him, "Pretty good as far as I know. Then again, I'm not a doctor." Shun chuckled and asked, "You wanna walk around some? Enjoy the day?" I smiled and nodded my head. He held out his hand to me, and I took it. Everything seemed to be returning back to normal.

People were going on with their everyday live; working, shopping, and talking. They wouldn't remember any of what happened thanks to Dusk and Dawn. Shun and I quickly crossed the street and walked into the park. Spring had made everything so green and vibrant, that when I compared it to the darkness brought on by Kiba, it almost blinded me.

I glanced up at Shun without him noticing. His eyes were still golden with the slitted eyes that all Fallens had. I wouldn't have taken him any other way than like that. This was the real him, and I didn't want to see the version that he used to hide from people. But I was only seeing this thanks to the barrier being broken, and I worried that if it got repaired that I lose this side of Shun again.

So, I was going to take in as much as I could. I hadn't noticed that we stopped at the lake in the park. Flowers from the blooming trees around it had landed in the water and left little ripples when they touched the surface. I asked Shun, "So, what title are you going to take?"

He looked at me, and seemed confused. "Title?" I nodded my head and said, "You're going to rule the Realm, right? You're going to need a title. Have you picked one?" I hated talking about him leaving, but it was a part of his life now. One that he had to do. He said, "Fallen."

I looked at him, and knew I looked confused. And I was. I said, "You're not going to go by a title?" He shook his head and said, "Nope. Because I'm not going to rule up there." I stared at him, and tried to hold in my squeals of excitement that he wasn't going to leave. Instead, I asked calmly, "Why not?"

Shun turned and faced me, "Like I said, nothing has changed up there. I'm still a Fallen, and I'm still looked down upon. And even if I wasn't a Fallen, I have no proof that Lord Michael was a part of my family." I nodded my head, and understood now. Holy angels hated the Fallens.

That was just how they were. Shun then cupped my cheek with his hand and said, "Besides, why would I want to leave you?" I felt myself blush, and then his lips on mine. It was a short kiss, but there was a lot of emotion behind it. When we parted, I asked, "Well, who's going to take over the Realm then?" Shun smiled at me and said, "I have somebody already thought out. Come on, let's head back to Murucho's."

I smiled and followed him. When we got back, Damien was already up and around. I said to him, "Should you be up right now?" Damien laughed and said, "I'm a fast healer, sweetheart." He then looked at Shun, and then whispered to me, "Can I talk with you in another room."

I nodded my head and followed him. I was worried about what he'd say. Damien then asked me, "Ok. You remember how I said when I saw Shun that I wasn't experienced enough to see into somebody's soul?" I vaguely remembered him mentioning it, and nodded my head. He continued. "Well, I can finally see souls now thanks to some training. And I can honestly say that he still has darkness around him, but not in his soul."

I stared at Damien and asked, "So does this mean what I think it does?" Damien smiled and said, "He's not a threat to you, but I suggest being on your guard anyway." I hugged Damien, and he let out a cry. "Ow! Ow! Lemme go! Ow!" I back away, laughing, and said, "Woops. Sorry about that. I forgot you were hurt."

He rolled his eyes and we went back to where Shun and the others were. Shun asked me, "Everything alright?" I smiled and said, "Yup." Adam was standing there and asked, "Alright, let me work through this again. You're not going to the Realm?" Shun shook his head, and I quickly figured out what he talked about while I was talking with Damien. Ebony then asked, "Then who's going to take your place?"

Shun said, "Damien. If he'll accept it." Damien's eyes got wide. "What? Me?" Shun nodded his head and said, "You're the one who defeated Kiba. If you use that, then you should be seen as a hero up there, and they should take you as the ruler. Hopefully. So, will you do it?"

Damien thought for a moment. There was a long silence in the room as everyone waited for Damien's answer. I could almost see the tension in the room. Damien smiled and said, "I'll do it. I don't think sweetheart needs me to keep her safe anymore either." I smiled. Adam then asked, "I guess that means you're staying with us?"

Adam had his hands held out to signify the whole Clan, when only Thatch and Ebony had stayed while the rest had left. Including Delilah and her Clan. Shun smiled and shook his head. "No. I'm stepping down as Clan leader." Almost every jaw hit the floor.

Adam shook his head and said, "What! Why do you want to step down!" Shun walked over to me and hooked his arm around me waist and pulled me close to him. He said, "I kind of have other priorities now. I'm sure you understand that, Adam." Adam and Ebony looked at each other, then away. Both were blushing. Shun then said, "Thatch will be a good leader to you. Won't you?"

Thatch nodded his head and bowed. "I will." I laid my head on Shun's shoulder and smiled. Shun then said, "Damien, I have just a few requests to make if you do get accepted to take over the Realm." Damien blinked a few times and said, "Uh, sure. What are they?"

Shun cleared his throat and said, "One, don't let them repair the barrier. Tear it down if you want. Two, Fallens should be allowed back in the Realm whenever they want. And three, don't let the power go to your head." Damien gave Shun a look while the rest of us laughed.

I could see right now that the world would be a different place. For not only the Fallens, but also for me. Adam jumped up and said, "How about we celebrate? Thatch's treat!" Thatch looked at him and said, "Hey! I'm not paying for your idea!"

Ebony wrapped her arms around Adam and said, "How about we all pitch in?" Shun shook his head and said, "You guys can go. I'm going to sit this one out." Adam shrugged his shoulders, and the three Fallens left out. Shun looked down at me and said, "How about we get away? Just me and you?"

I blushed and smiled. "Sounds good to me." Our lips then met again. I heard him say, "I love you." I felt my heart flutter. I said back, "I love you too." I was going to enjoy my new life, and Shun was going to be right there with me to enjoy it too.

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><p>^^ done! it's been a pleasure writing this story! it truly has! but now it must become lost in the depths of other fanfictons. keep and eye out for the addition that is STILL going by <em>The Puppetmaster<em>. i'll just let you all know that there will be a few Shun and Alice appearances in it. i hope you all enjoyed the story! and check out the poll on my profile to tell me which story from this trilogy you liked the most! read, review, and other things! ~Copperpelt~


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